Following the Leaders

Not in many months have the cold statistics of the U.S. economy been suffused with such a warm glow:

> Fifteen of 19 leading indicators of business activity rose in February.

>Retail sales are running at record rates so far in 1963, up some 7% from the first quarter of 1962.

>Auto production rose 9% from the first quarter of 1962 to hit 1,931,000 in the first three months.

> Steel production continued its rise of eight straight weeks, is now running at 76% of capacity.

> Machine-tool orders in February showed gains of 24% to 60% over last year.

> Personal income rose in February to $451 billion on an annual basis, up $19 billion from a year ago.

> New construction contracts reached a February record of $2.9 billion, up 6% from a year ago.

> Manufacturers' new orders, which had been level for a year, rose for the second straight month, to a record $34.6 billion.

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