From Washington, Wall Street and the nation's major industries came a surprisingly unanimous report last week: the pickup is moving much faster than expected. The recovery led to the coining of a new phrase to characterize the recessionthe V recessiona sharp drop followed by sharp recovery (see chart).
Government economists, who had expected the recession to be the same saucer shape as in 1948-49 and 1953-54, were changing their tune because an outpouring of new statistics showed a sudden and simultaneous hardening in the major muscles of the economycapital expenditures, sales, new orders, inventories (see below). Every major industry counted...
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