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BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL j ITEMS OF INTEREST . , , j British currency was quoted yesterday on international exchange dealings at 20 cents above the low point it reached earlier in the week when the negotiations to avert a European war appeared to have failed. The pound led other foreign currencies in a vigorous recovery which whittled down the big premiums at which gold and American money has been quoted for the last week. The peaceful settlement of the Czechoslovak crisis was greeted by the stock mar-! ket with further advances. Gains ranging j from substantial fractions to around three i points were common in active issues, j Automobile production in American and j Canadian factories this week increased 25 I per cent for the second consecutive week, I Wards Automotive Reports estimated. Out-I put last week was estimated at 25,405 passenger cars and trucks. Production totaled 1 20,390 in the preceding week and 44,330 in the corresponding 1937 period. I Sales of department stores in the United States during the week ended September 24 j showed a much smaller decline from year ago levels than did sales of the preceding week. This was disclosed in the federal reserve systems weekly survey. Net income of the Union Pacific for the i first eight months of this year amounted to ,341,679, compared with ,859,941 in the corresponding period of 1937, the road reported Saturday. This was equivalent to .66 per common share, against .43 last year. ! August net income totaled ,514,318, against net loss of ,400,056 in August, 1937. The recovery of values in foreign security markets was extended Saturday. Official , news of the Munich agreement released new I buying on the exchanges in London, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. The recovery carried some issues back to the level at which they were selling before .the "war scare" selling began. Air passenger traffic in August approached , the peak set in September, 1937, by sixteen j carriers of the Air Transport Association of America. The city of Memphis, in co-operation with , the Tennessee Valley Authority, has agreed to purchase the electrical properties of the Memphis Power and Light Company for 3,500,000. The system will be used to distribute TVA power. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company had a net income for August of ,727,131 and surplus after all charges and appropriations for the month of ,002,215, according to President M. W. Clement. This compares with net earnings of ,762,209 and surplus after all charges and appropriations of ,083,504 for August last year. The treasurys gold stocks stood at 3,697,-452,782 on September 27, an increase of 5,-845.200 over the previous day. Chicago bank clearings for September dropped to the lowest level for the month since.1935, totaling ,170,698,853, according to the Chicago Clearing House Association. The Argentine government on Saturday paid ,936,750 to Brown, Harriman and Co., the final installment on a 0,000,000 loan obtained in 1930. a -
