STATE OF BUSINESS: The Record Smashers

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All along Wall Street last week, the bulls were tossing their horns. The market went up for five straight days. The Dow-Jones industrial average climbed almost 14 points to close at 458.47, well above the low point reached in the drop caused by President Eisenhower's heart attack; rails went up 2.98 to 151.45, while utilities edged up 1.03 points to 62.51. Though investors were still cautious, the reason for the optimism was not hard to find. From dozens of companies came record third-quarter earnings reports.

Up Du Pont. In chemicals and mining, Union Carbide, Du Pont and National Gypsum all reported banner sales and earnings. At Union Carbide, President Morse G. Dial listed alltime record sales of $857 million, record earnings of $101 million for the first nine months, 60% higher than 1954. Du Pont hit new peaks with sales of $1.4 billion, earnings of $6.24 a share at the three-quarter mark v. $4.74 last year. In the booming electronics industry, civilian sales were so good that General Electric President Ralph J. Cordiner could announce the second-best year in history thus far—sales of $2.2 billion, record earnings of $141 million, despite a slump in military business and a 7% drop in third-quarter profits to $39 million. Chief reason: higher costs because of a shift of production to new plants. R.C.A. was zooming ahead too, announced all-time high sales of $741 million up to October, 12% better than 1954.

Pretty Picture. The news was just as good in railroads, steel, aluminum, heavy manufacturing. After slim pickings in 1954, the Pennsylvania Railroad announced the best profit in ten years: President James M. Symes totaled the nine-month revenue at $690 million, with a $32 million net that was a whopping 172% better than 1954, Crucible Steel did even better in the percentage race, with nine-month sales of $172 million, a $9,000,000 profit, 434% higher than last year's poor earnings. Eastman Kodak President Albert K. Chapman showed a pretty picture to stockholders: he reported new highs in sales and earnings, with a volume of $487 million, up 13%, earnings of $58 million, up 24% over last year. Other record breakers: United Air Lines, with record earnings of $10 million, up 19%; Continental Can Co., with record earnings of $20 million, up 18%; Pepsi-Cola, with record earnings of $7,800,000, up 60%.

Overall, the general picture of U.S. business as it went into the year's final quarter could hardly have been brighter. As a hint of things to come, Bennett S. Chappie Jr., assistant executive vice president of U.S. Steel, predicted that in 1956, the United States will produce nearly $400 billion worth of goods and services, for an alltime record.