Prices: Steady

Despite the talk of inflation, U.S. prices are remarkably steady. The Bureau of Labor Statistics wholesale-price index last week stood at 119.4% of the 1947-49 average, a shade above the December level and only a fraction above a year ago. Several major raw materials even registered sharp decreases. Lead was marked down from 12-c- to 11-c- per Ib. when the metal piled up despite import quotas. Because of a worldwide glut in oil, British Petroleum Co. lopped 18-c- per bbl. off the price of Mideast oil. Creole Petroleum cut 5-c- to 15-c- off the price of Venezuelan oil, and in the U.S., Gulf and Ohio Oil dropped their buying price for crude oil by 7-c- per bbl.

Such cuts reflect the continuing abundance of most raw materials, which is the economy's best guarantee against a recurrence of inflation. Other signs of economic health last week:

P: Steel output jumped to about 2,363,000 tons, up from 2,288,000 the week before. If the rise continues at this rate, the industry this week will bump against the alltime high of 2,525,000 tons, poured in the week of Dec. 17, 1956. Then the industry was operating under a strain at 102.6% of capacity. Now it is breezing along at 83.5% of 1959's greatly expanded capacity.

P: Auto output increased to 115,770 cars, up 1,488 from the week before, and 14% ahead of last year. Chrysler, which was hard hit by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. strike, expects to step up production with glass from other sources. If the strike is settled this week, as expected, Chrysler plans to go back into full production almost immediately.

P: Nationwide department store sales for the first week in February soared 9% over the comparable week of 1958. For January, the Commerce Department estimated total U.S. retail sales at $16,340,000,000, up more than $1 billion from January 1958.

Unemployment remained the economy's weak spot. In January the number of jobless rose 616,000 to 4,724,000, the highest for the month since before World War II. But the increase was only about half the seasonal increase in jobless of January 1958.

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