Rolling Autos

The most important economic news last week, among a collection of grey statistics, was the continued rise in new-car sales. In the second ten days of October, sales of cars rose 11% over the first ten days, just about equaling the alltime record set last year. The industry is selling 21,730 cars a day, is racing toward 550,000 domestic sales in October. Counting import-model sales, that would make October the best such month in history. For the first time in seven years, fewer than half the cars being sold in the U.S. are eight-cylinder models, reflecting the rapid rise of the six-cylinder compacts.

Another sign of strength was in department-store sales. They were up in the last reported week for a 4% gain over a year ago. Perhaps most heartening of all, manufacturers' new orders in September rose for the second straight month, jumping to $30.4 billion from August's $30 billion. While the rise in orders largely reflected a step-up in defense spending, particularly in the aircraft and electronic industries, it was the first time in ten months that orders exceeded sales.

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