INDICATORS: Best Gain in Years

Outsprinting even the most optimistic forecasts, the gross national product burst ahead in this year's April-June quarter, expanding at a prodigious rate of 8.9% in real terms—the biggest three-month gain in six years. The performance was doubly encouraging because of a marked slowdown in the pace of inflation, to 2.1% v. 5.5% in the year's first quarter. Overall, the Commerce Department reported last week, the second quarter G.N.P. grew by $29.9 billion, to an annual rate of $1,139 billion. Herbert Stein, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, was elated: "This is the best combination of numbers to...