The Best of Everything

Thirty-five months after it began, the advance of the U.S. economy shows no signs of slackening. Most of the indicators--from industrial production to retail sales--still look good. In fact, said the Federal Reserve Board last week, the current business expansion is a lot stronger and more solidly based than other, more spectacular postwar recoveries. And as for earnings, the first reports for the past year shattered old records on every side. Pretax corporate profits for 1963 will almost certainly pass the $50 billion mark to set an alltime record.

General Motors reported the highest earnings--$1.6 billion--ever made by any corporation, regaining the crown briefly held by American Telephone & Telegraph. Standard of New Jersey became the world's first oil company ever to earn more than $1 billion in a single year. Giant IBM and DuPont both set new earnings records. Hardly any segment of the economy failed to gain. Most of the once ailing railroads made healthy profits, and the airlines, which only two years ago were in a financial tailspin, climbed to new heights of profit. TWA turned a $5,700,000 loss in 1962 into record earnings of $19.7 million last year. Many of the smaller steel companies nearly doubled their earnings in 1963, and giant U.S. Steel, now in the throes of a major reorganization, achieved its highest profit --$202 million--in three years.

Though some corporate executives still complain that profit margins are not all that they should be, the flood of earnings clearly marked the end of the profit squeeze that U.S. industry has suffered for nearly a decade. Reason: already high consumer demand continued to grow strongly, while companies, aided by new computers, automation and sharper cost control, were able to hold down production costs. Says General Motors' Chairman Frederic Donner: "Rising industrial production, employment and consumer income engendered a high level of consumer and business confidence. 1963 was a good year for the economy, a fine year for the automobile industry and an excellent year for efficient producers in that industry."

A sampling of other 1963 earnings (in millions):

OILS 1962 1963 California Standard $313.8 $322 Ohio Standard 24.2 33.9 Phillips 106.9 114 Texaco 481.7 545.7 Union of California 46.7 54

RAILS Great Northern 25 29.3 Missouri Pacific 22.2 24.7 New York Central -3.8 7 Southern Pacific 82 88

STEELS Armco 45.9 65.9 Bethlehem 88.7 102.5 Jones & Laughlin 25.2 44.4 National 35.5 63.7 Republic 40 55.5

OTHERS Georgia-Pacific 24.9 28.5 G. D. Searle 13.8 18.5 Johns-Manville 23.9 27.7 Johnson & Johnson 18 20.4 Safeway Stores 39.3 44.8 Xerox 13.9 23

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.