The stock market, sagging since the first of the year, bumped to a seven-year bottom last week. The venerable Dow-Jones industrial stock average hit 98.3, 14% under 1942's best, lowest since 1935.
For this sorry show, brokers had two pat reasons: 1) lower profits and dividends because of still higher taxes; 2) the long string of United Nations defeats. Brokers' explanations are usually in the nature of rationalizations, but the effect of war economy on business was unmistakable. Many famous companies have already cut their dividends. Biggest market declines came in companies like Du Pont, Eastman Kodak, Dow Chemical, International Business...
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