STATE OF BUSINESS: Jump in Prices

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Prices, which have been slowly edging up, have taken a sudden jump. The Labor Department reported last week that its cost-of-living index rose nearly half a point to 127.3 of the 1947-49 average—the biggest monthly jump since April, and the ninth rise in the past ten months. The rise took place not only in the cost of such non-durables as food, transportation, personal and medical care and clothing but —for the first time in 1960—in durable commodities as well.

The earnings of factory workers kept pace with the living cost, also hit new records in October. They rose to $81.50 weekly, up 50¢ from September. Because of the cost-of-living index's rise, nearly 1,100,000 workers in the auto and farm-equipment industries will get a 2¢-an-hour cost-of-living hike and another 80,000 workers a 1¢ hourly wage increase.

The third-quarter drop in gross national product, which touched off all the recession talk, proved not so severe as previously estimated. The drop was actually only $1.5 billion to $503.5 billion, half a billion less than estimated.

Other pros and cons in the economy: ¶ New car sales continued their steady rise, were up sharply from a year earlier in mid-November. Dealers delivered 164,784 new U.S.-made cars in the Nov. 11-20 period, or 20,598 in each of the period's eight selling days.

¶ ailroad freight carloadings rose slightly over the previous week, though they remain 9.9% below the same week last year.

¶ Department-store sales across the U.S. were off 7% for the latest week compared with the same week last year. ¶ Shipments of major appliances slipped to the year's lowest point in October. Factory sales of refrigerators were 29% below last year, washing machines 30% below.

Looking at the statistics, the Labor Department reported that it sees no impending pickup in new orders that would spur overall factory output: "So far in the fall-period, factory output has not shown a pickup of seasonal proportions."