STATE OF BUSINESS: That Depression Talk

The stock market is extremely sensitive to talk—especially when it comes from high places. Last week a rash of talk from Washington about the state of the U.S. economy unnerved an already shaky market and sent it into a spin.

The boom-and-bust warnings of Secretary of the Treasury Humphrey and ex-President Hoover (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) helped start a selling wave that sent the Dow-Jones industrial average tumbling 7.23 points (to 469.96) for the widest single-day break in eight months. The market rallied Wednesday, until a selling surge was set off by President Eisenhower's warning that the Government might have to impose...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!