STATE OF BUSINESS: On the Road

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No indicator is watched more closely by U.S. businessmen at this time of year than the sales figures of the automobile industry. What they are looking for is a sign of spring kicking up its heels. Last week dealer showrooms were full of prospects with the open-road look in their eye and money in their pockets. Preliminary first-quarter sales for Chevrolet showed that sales were clipping along at a record pace that would topple the March 1955 high (155,475) and the 1956 first-quarter record (406,204). Ford sales jumped from 4,000 cars sold a day at the beginning of March to 5,200 sold daily at month's end. Said a Ford official: "It looks as if a lot of sales momentum is building up." If the surge continues, automakers are confident that the upswing will move out many of the 1,000,000 cars now in showrooms. They plan to turn out 1,700,000 cars in the second quarter v. 2,000,000 in the first three months. With General Motors, American Motors, and Ford all ringing up record outputs, first-quarter production was 23% higher than the same period in 1959. Some other economic indicators were not as cheery:

¶Manufacturers' new orders in February showed a 3% pickup to $30.5 billion. But they still lagged behind sales of $31.6 billion, up $500 million from January.

¶ Manufacturers' inventories rose $600 million to $53.9 billion.

¶ Construction outlays jumped 5% to $3.7 billion, but were less than the 8% increase normally expected in March.