STATE OF BUSINESS: Rally on the Rails

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In the recovery from the recession, even the hardest-hit industries are showing sharp improvement. Last week the laggard railroads were back on the track: carloadings rose to a 1958 high of 667,277 cars, only 8% under 1957. Several of the carriers deepest in red ink nudged into the black for the first time in almost a year.

The Pennsylvania, biggest in the industry, reported an August profit of $3,288,600, slightly ahead of August 1957; the New York Central squeaked into the black by $274,777. Western roads showed their highest earnings of the year; Southern Pacific's August earnings of $5,200,000 topped August 1957 by $528,000. Reflecting the improved earnings picture, the Dow Jones rail average on the New York Stock Exchange climbed to a 1958 high of 141.80, helped pace the industrials to another alltime high of 526.83.

Machine-tool orders climbed to $23 million in August, v. $21.9 million in July. Appliances were selling at a good clip; manufacturers' sales of refrigerators, freezers, electric ranges and water heaters topped August 1957. Conducting interviews in twelve key fields, the American Management Association found almost all the executives expected 1959 to be a good year, looked for "a steady recovery at a tapering rate."