TIME CLOCK

HIGHER OIL PRICES are on the way, says Sinclair Oil Corp. President P. C. Spencer. Though producers have held prices fairly stable for almost three years, the cost of finding oil and the cost of refining it are rising so fast that the industry wants a flat 20% hike in the price of crude oil, with commensurate price boosts for all refined products.

LOW RAILROAD PROFITS will be laid before the public in a $100 million ad campaign, if New York Central Boss Robert R. Young has his way. Young is disturbed over the fact that the industry earns barely 4% profit v. at least 6% for other public utilities, wants the roads to spend 7 1/2% of their pre-tax earnings in a campaign to spread their financial "dangers" before the public.

70 MILLION CARS, 35% more than today, will be rolling along U.S. highways by 1966, predicts Chrysler Corp. Economist W. C. Flaherty. Though the number of cars scrapped each year will increase from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 an expanding population, better roads and better cars will push the nation's new car sales up to an average 8,000,000 to 9,000,000 annually.

A STEEL PRICE INCREASE is coming in a few months, will probably top $9 a ton for one of the biggest boosts on record. Reasons: 1) anticipated union pressure for a big pay hike, 2) a $3-billion, 15-million-ton expansion in the next three years.

LOAN DEMAND from business is skyrocketing because of heavy federal tax payments due this month. Federal Reserve member banks report that commercial, industrial and agricultural loans shot up by $1.4 billion in the first three weeks of March, pushing total loans up 20% over a year ago.

WESTINGHOUSE'S GOAL for 1956 is not only to win back its strike-lost appliance market, but jump ahead 35% over last year's sales. Westinghouse will kick off a $32 million ad campaign, biggest in its history, go to the dealers with a revamped 1956 line: portable TV sets, a 22-inch color receiver, an array of "built-in" refrigerators, freezers and automatic washers.

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