STATE OF BUSINESS: New Peak in Steel?

By day and by night, over the nation's great steel centers from Sparrow's Point to Fontana, the belching smoke and cherry glow of the furnaces made dramatic testimony to steel's comeback. The order books were filled for months ahead, and the mills were pouring at near-record rates. The figure last week: 86% of the industry's newly expanded capacity, 2,439,000 actual tons and a volume within hollering distance of the 2,525,000-ton alltime peak set in December 1956. As customers hurried to build up depleted inventories and hedge against the threat of a strike...

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