State of Business: High-Level Stagnation

For the U.S. economy it was a week when solid accomplishment was overshadowed by unsettling portents.

More and more of the indicators that businessmen watch for a clue to the shape of things to come were leveling off—a phenomenon that characteristically indicates that a period of recovery is coming to an end and a period of recession lies a few months ahead. The industrial production index in June barely managed to inch its way up from May's 117.5 to 117.8. June's $700 million increase in total personal income was the smallest for any month since January, and factory workers' income...