STATE OF BUSINESS: The View for ’56

How will business be next year? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week took a look ahead, found the prospect pleasing. The “alltime high” boom of 1955 would keep running ahead. Despite 1955’s record output of more than 7,000,000 cars, the Chamber expected that ’56 auto sales would be almost as high. Construction, consistently on the upgrade every year since World War II, would increase again in ’56.

But the Chamber also had a few words of caution. With the economy straining at near capacity, future rises would “probably become more moderate.” It also foresaw some possible trouble spots in the economy in the excessive rise in consumer credit and mortgage debt. The Chamber thought that the Government’s efforts to restrict credit were all to the good, and concluded: “A general tightening of credit now . . . would allow elbow room to loosen credit next year to buoy up the economy if necessary.”