STATE OF BUSINESS
"Negative psychology seems to characterize the general mood," reported New York's Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. in its latest monthly survey of business conditions, "and a peaking-out of business before the year's end is now being discussed as a distinct possibility'' ("peaking out" is a positive-psychology way of saying "recession").
A growing list of unsettling economic indicators contributed to the negative thinking. Retail sales, off 1% in May, dropped another 2% in Junepartly because of an unexpected fall in auto sales. Building permits for new housing, which rose last winter to foretell this spring's burst of...