--- description: Among the items which helped the stockmarket to new Recovery highs last week were these: ¶ Issuing its annual profit & loss statement for the U. S. as a whole, the Department of Commerce... title: Business & Finance: Good News image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Business & Finance: Good News (27 Jul 1936) by [TIME](/author/time/) Jul 27, 1936 4:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Jul 27, 1936 4:00 AM CUT Among the items which helped the stockmarket to new Recovery highs last week were these: ¶ Issuing its annual profit & loss statement for the U. S. as a whole, the Department of Commerce reported that in 1935 the country earned $52,900,000,000, paid out $53,500,000,000\. That indicated that the U. S. had dipped into surplus for $600,000,000, lowest figure since 1932, when $48,300,000,000 was paid out, only $39,500,000,000 produced. In 1929 the U. S. produced $2,400,000,000 more than the $78,600,000,000 paid out. ¶ Standard Oil of New Jersey awarded contracts for eight new 105,000-bbl. tankers—four to Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock, two to Bethlehem Shipbuilding, two to Sun Shipbuilding. The new tankers will cost a total of $13,000,000, which is one of the biggest unsubsidized shipbuilding orders ever placed in the U. S. ¶ Building construction for the first six months of 1936 ran 77% ahead of the same period of 1935\. June figures showed residential building up 48%, nonresidential 34%, public and heavy construction up 105%. ¶ U. S. citizens spent 15.7% more for general merchandise in June than the year before, pushing first-half sales nearly 10% ahead of the first six months of 1935\. ¶ June credit sales were up 14% from the same month last year, collections 10%. No. 1 gainer in both fields was Idaho Falls, Idaho. ¶ May tire shipments were 43% ahead of those of May 1935\. ¶ Holding up well was burlap consumption with June sales of 55,000,000 yd., bringing the figures for the first half 27% above the similar period last year. ¶ With June setting an all-time monthly record, Canadian newsprint production soared to a new half-year high of 1,489,000 tons, topped the first six months of 1935 by 16%. ¶ Dun & Bradstreet reported business failures at the lowest rate for June since 1920\. Liabilities involved were less than in any June in 30 years. ¶ Eleven leading corn refiners figured that their June corn grind topped the same month last year by about 25%. ¶ In spite of the hullabaloo about canned beer, glassmakers turned out 50% more beer bottles in the first half of 1936 than in the same period last year. ¶ In spite of a price increase last month, John B. Stetson Co. (hats) announced that business was running well ahead of last year, had its Canadian plant working overtime. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6891607/business-finance-good-news-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6891607/business-finance-good-news-2/"},"headline":"Business & Finance: Good News (27 Jul 1936)","datePublished":"1936-07-27T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-23T15:31:30.170Z","description":"Among the items which helped the stockmarket to new Recovery highs last week were these: ¶ Issuing its annual profit & loss statement for the U. S. as a whole, the Department of Commerce...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6891607/business-finance-good-news-2/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6891607/business-finance-good-news-2/","name":"Business & Finance: Good News (27 Jul 1936)"}}]}] ```