Scorecard on the Freeze

PRESIDENT NIXON won three major victories last week in defense of his new economic policies. Japan finally floated its yen in relation to the dollar; organized labor, led by A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany, backed off from its threat to contest the wage-price freeze in court; and, after a brief show of defiance, Texas conceded that the freeze covers state and local government employees. Some of the week's other highlights:

THE ECONOMY. Confidence among consumers and businessmen continued to rise, but it was tempered with caution and a lingering sense of confusion. The New York Stock Exchange's Dow Jones industrial average leaped to a high of 908.37 during trading last week; it closed at 908.15, up from 880.91 the week before. Chemical Bank, the nation's sixth largest, made an across-the-board cut on consumer loans and pared its mortgage rate by .5% to 7%. Retail sales round the country hovered near their prefreeze levels, except for a last-minute scramble to snap up untaxed foreign-made goods already in the country.

GUIDELINES. The Cost of Living Council lifted the previously applied freeze on insurance rates, allowed pay increases for teachers if their contracts were signed before Aug. 15, exempted welfare payments from controls. The council included in the freeze the service fees of wholesalers, travel agents, banks and municipalities. The council also barred employers from using job perquisites, like expanded expense accounts, in lieu of pay raises to keep key personnel.

TRADE. At a meeting of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the U.S. rejected trading partners' arguments against the import surcharge and said that the levy will continue until the U.S. balance of payments improves. The American position was bolstered by the announcement late in the week that in July U.S. exports lagged behind imports for the fourth consecutive month.

THE DOLLAR. In refusing to back the dollar with gold, the Administration hoped that its value would drop in relation to other currencies and thus make U.S. goods cheaper in world markets. The first test of this strategy proved mildly hopeful. The dollar drifted down slightly in money markets, but nothing like the expected 12% to 15%. At the close of trading last week, the franc had risen by 2.8% in relation to the dollar, the mark by 7.6%, the Swiss franc by 2.5%, and the pound by 3%. Put on a limited float at week's end, the Japanese yen rose as much as 7% in the first day's trading.

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