Index Down

Fortnight ago, TIME'S Index of Business Conditions, having fallen steadily during January, was tidily up. Whether this marked the beginning of a new upward trend remained in doubt last week as the Index showed a slight decline of .4 points--from 99.2 to 98.8. The public's spending was off everywhere except in financial centres, where the North American Co.'s $105,000,000 refunding produced a spurt--which is likely to prove brief since no big capital issues are scheduled for the next few weeks.

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