Prosperous Third

STATE OF BUSINESS Prosperous Third

The economy was moving along so briskly last week that some businessmen were beginning to worry that there might be too much of a boom. Warned Manhattan's First National City Bank: "With the problems of recession behind them, businessmen will now need to be alert to the problems of prosperity--pressures on prices, temptation toward excesses of inventories or credit use, and the eroding of the efficiencies and cost reductions introduced during the recession."

With a fat second quarter about over, U.S. businessmen looked forward to an even more prosperous third. The National Association of Purchasing Agents, which keeps sensitive fingers on the economy's pulse through the men who buy for major U.S. businesses, reported that 42% of its members expect business to be better in the third quarter than in the second, and 58% believe that the year's second half will easily top the first half. Only 29% foresee a third-quarter decline.

Justifying the purchasing agents' optimism, the economy touched new high ground. Freight carloadings jumped nearly 30% over the same week last year, running ahead of 1957 for the first time this year. The dollar volume of new construction rose in May to $4.6 billion, an alltime record for the month.

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