Profits: Still Soaring

Despite all the frets about the U.S. economy, second-quarter earnings reports set new records. The Wall Street Journal reported the earnings of 498 companies as 10.9% above the same period in 1965. On either side of that average, the figures ranged from a 67% increase for four airlines (American, Braniff, Pan American and Seaboard World) to a 7% decrease for six cement companies.

Other industrial gains included: chemicals, 11%; department stores, 14%; drug manufacturers, 16%; railroads, 24% ; mining and metals, 28% ; textile manufacturers, 18%; rubber companies, 26%. However, sales losses in two giant industries—autos and steel —kept the...

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