BUSINESS IN U.S.A.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 134, 8 June 1926, Page 4

BUSINESS IN U.S.A.

SLIGHT FAXUNG OFT i ! HIGH WAGES. Writing under date of May 10, John Dunn, Son and Company, of New York, state; According to most authorities, business activity hag fallen off slightly duxi :ng the past few weeks, this being parI ticularly noticeable in the steel, silk. ! cottcn, woollen and leather industries. I The silk textile manufacturers have for J some time been most prosperous, and . a slight decrease in activity just now I seems little cause for apprehension. The j whole textile industry, as well as the ; leather tanners, are suffering from the scanty amount of material used in modern apparel and to some extent, in J the case of textiles, from foreign compei tition. The usual indices of trade, j however, show but little signs of business recession. Railroad ear loadings, bank debits, mail order and chain store sales, life insurances written, savings bank deposits, etc., are all well in line with recent totals and equal or exceed those of last year at this time. Automobile production and building also continue in abnormal volume, though very lately some profess to see a alight decline in the extent of new construction planned. In this city, so great is the activity, that union bricklayers are being paid 1-t dollars per day of eight hours. Returns of foreign trade for the month of March show an import balance amounting to 70,000,000 dollars, as compared with an export balance for March last year of almost exactly the -ame amount. As was the case during February, the change is due largely to heavier importations of rubber and other crude materials and to smaller exports of cotton and grain at lower prices. Exports of manufactured goods are somewhat greater for the month than they were last year and for the nine months to April 1 ebow an increase of some 230.000D00 dollars, while imnorts of manufactured eorel= show an increase of only 34.000.000 f thp same neriod. Imports of gold dv March were again fairly heavy, the ' inflow amounting to over 40.000.000 dollars, while for the nine months from July I. 1925. the import? were greater than exports by 03.000.000 dollars, which comnares with an excess of exports of 07.000.000 dollars for the same period burins the previous year.