The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 16

Friday's Tip: Car, truck sales rise Mid-February car and light truck sales by five major: U.S. automakers climbed 6.7 percent from depressed I year-ago levels. For the Feb. 1 1-20 period, Ford sales i jumped 4.8 percent, while GM sales rose 2 percent Chrysler doesn't report 10-day sales. 6B The News-Leader Friday, February 28, 1992 To report business news, call 836-1247 Lawsuoti seeks to dun IN BASKET MARKETPLACE races Licensing company asks for restraining order Bankruptcy Code.

That filing was delayed at the request of the company's senior lender, a Cincinnati bank, which has called in a million loan to Demaree, "We're working with the senior lender on this," Pat Demaree said, "and we expect to file soon and out of Chapter 11 within ix months." He said he expected to be able to resolve both the loan matter ant (he ASCAP matter in short order. No impact should be felt on Springfield Please see KXUSPage 3B Thursday the fee payments had been in dispute. "We have our attorneys working on this and we've been in touch with (ASCAP) attorneys. We feel we can resolve this in a short time," he said. ASCAP sources did not return phone calls until after business hours Thursday.

A New York staffer who called late in the day said he would have to check into the case today before making any comment. Demaree Media announced in early February it was planning to file for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal Crowder said Thursday. "We've never received anything here at the station saying we shouldn't." The suit charges copyright infringement by Demaree Media, the Fayetteville-based parent company of KXUS, 97.3 FM. It alleges that Demaree Media and other defendants continued to broadcast compositions in the ASCAP repertory after the defendants' ASCAP license was terminated in April, 1991, for failure to pay license fees. Pat Demaree, president of Demaree Media and Class which together own 14 radio stations, said ers has filed a lawsuit in U.S.

District Court in Fayetteville, against the parent company of KXUS-FM, seeking $100,000 and a court order to stop the company's stations from playing the compositions of ASCAP members. "We're going to play music," KXUS general manager Mike By Bil Tatum The News-Leader The music of Guns N' Roses and The Doors will continue to be played on Springfield's number-one-rated radio station, in spite of a lawsuit seeking to stop the station and 13 others from playing those musicians and hundreds of others. ASCAP the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publish BUSINESS DIGEST 65 workers at Reyco to lose jobs St. John's planning 2-doctor office on north side; I i' By Kathleen O'Dell The News-Leader St. John's Regional Health Center is establishing its first north-side presence with the planned construction of a two-physician medical office building.

The site is on a vacant lot St. John's has owned for several years just west of the southwest corner of Kearney Street and Glenstone Avenue. Site preparation for the $163,000 facility began this week, said George Flynn, St. John's vice president' for planning. The building is expected to be finished by June.

The single-story, facility is designed to accommodate a future addition for two more doctors, if there's a demand, Flynn said. "There probably is a need for quality family care physicians in that area, and I think the physicians looking in that area are correct in wanting to be there to serve those needs," Flynn said. Medical office space abounds in south Springfield, including three on the St. John's campus the National Avenue and Fremont Avenue medical buildings, and the new Whiteside Medical Building. But several doctors in the past have expressed a desire to St.

John's officials for offices in northern Springfield, Flynn said. 's" The hospital is negotiating with several family lor general practice physicians to occupy the space. i St. John's will continue to own the building, Flynn said. "v' This is the most recent of planned satellite offices owned by St.

John's. Whether additions are driven by physician demand or hospital marketing, medical industry analysts say hospitals nationally are building a network of clinics and medical offices in surrounding counties to serve as patient "feeders" into the hospitals. St. John's already has begun construction on another small, $165,000 medical office building in Nixa. Dr.

Guy Miller, who currently practices in Nixa, will move there with a future partner, Flynn said. St. John's last summer opened another two-physician medical building in southwest Springfield, Southwest Medical. Two family practice physicians work there? r- The hospital also will break ground within a week 'on a free-standing primary care and diagnostic Lockwood, after a regional hospital there closed due to Reyco Industries Inc. will close its foundry today and eliminate 65 steel workers' jobs.

Total plant employment now falls to about 230. The company, which makes truck and bus suspensions and brake drums at its Springfield plant, 600 N. Prospect announced the plan to close the foundry in October. Instead the company will buy pre-made parts to assemble, said John Panarites, general manager. Earlier, Reyco had said it was studying consolidating its four plants and considering closing its Springfield operation.

In October, Panarites said state incentives and talks with the company's labor union were the keys to Reyco's future. Now, however, he says the Springfield plant will remain open. "We're definitely not going to close," he said. "We had an offer from Arkansas to move there, but we have decided to keep it here." Sandra Harvill, office clerk for International Association of Machinists Local 1316, said a new three-year agreement between the union and the company will run until Oct. 21, 1994.

FmHA closing field offices WASHINGTON The Farmers Home Administration, lender of last resort to struggling farmers nationwide, has begun the politically sensitive job of closing down field offices. Since Oct. 1, the agency has either shut or authorized closing of 89 county offices and six district offices in 21 states. Another 19 or 20 offices are pending and more closures are expected, said FmHA administrator La Verne Ausman. The cuts affected two Ozarks offices.

The Springfield county office, which handled Greene and Christian counties, closed Jan. 12; a county office in Forsyth also closed. The office handling the Greene and Christian County caseloads now operate in an Ozark office that opened Jan. 13, said Jerry Finley, Ozarks FmHA district director. A Wright County office in Hart-viUe combined with one in Ava.

"I think it's just a sign of the times that the offices are going to get larger and cover more areas with more staff because of specialization," Finley said. The FmHA closed 95 offices between 1989 and 1991. The agency, which makes and guarantees housing and farm loans, now has 46 state offices, 252 district offices and 1,774 county offices. Fanners fear services will be cut along with the number of local offices, but advocates of a streamlined Agriculture Department say the reduction is overdue in a time of tight budgets. In Basket is compiled daily from staff and wire reports.

The Associated Press Joint Russian-American newspaper We hits stands left is Moscow editor Vladimir Shmyganovsky and in the center is Jerrold Schecter, American editor of the joint newspaper, which is published in Russian in Moscow and in English in Washington. U.S Ambassador to Russia Bob Strauss, right, jokes as he is presented Thursday in Moscow with the first copy of the new monthly newspaper We, published jointly by the Hearst Corporation and the Russian newspaper Izvestia. At Home sales take first tumble in four months America's largest corporations. Welch told reporters after a council meeting here Thursday, "Things are a little better and I mean little." "There is a spark of recovery, but it is certainly not widespread," added Lawrence Bossidy, chief executive of Allied-Signal Inc. and a council member.

The National Association of Realtors on Thursday attributed the decline in sales of previously owned homes to consumer uncertainty over the economic outlook and a blip in mortgage "rates as much as to the usual midwinter lull in housing activity. The Mideast posted the only regional gain. The Associated Press WASHINGTON Existing home sales fell 1.5 percent in January, the first decline in four months, and claims for jobless benefits rose for a second straight week in mid-February, reports said Thursday. The negative figures, combined with recent reports of a rebound in factory orders and climbing retail and automobile sales, showed the cross currents buffeting the economy. "There is clearly no clear direction," concurred John F.

Welch chief executive of General Electric Co. and chairman of the Business Council, made up of the chief executives of 100 of lack of funds. i1 Experts see big losses ahead for stock market DAN DORFMAN Hot on the stock market? Watch out! It may be in hot water and you could get scalded. That's what I get from two market-beating pros who see hefty losses ahead for stocks as much as 8 per TV Also, net profit margins are 3.6 percent, down from 4.1 percent in 1988. His 12-month price target: Amgen a biotech star with drugsto stimulate blood cell production.

"The market values it like it'll come up with winner after winner, but there's no evidence yet," says Leeb. Twelve-month price target: $45. Software king Microsoft He sees growing rivalry from such firms as Novell and IBM. Twelve-month price target: Lappin also worries about a poor showing by President Bush in future primaries, raising doubt about his re-election prospects. Likewise, new turmoil in the Soviet republics; ahd unexpected actions by Saddam Hussein that could heighten Middle East tensions.

Dan Dorfman, assisted by Jerilyn Klein, writes about investing for Gannett News Service. His column appears on Friday. From money manager Joan Lappin: "The stock market is not in reality-land." Lappin, president of New York's Gramercy Capital Management Corp. (assets: $250 million), sees the Dow falling from a current level of 3,280 to 3,000 this quarter. Nearly fully invested in equities in January, she has hiked her cash reserves to more than 20 percent.

Leeb runs over $50 million of assets and is editor of two newsletters The Big Picture and Personal Finance. He sees the Dow as low as 2,950 by July, 2,750 in nine to 12 months. Leeb hasn't been so cautious since 1987. His newsletters pitch a 40 percent equity stake vs. 100 percent in early 1991.

Why? The market is very pricey, he says. Some statistics: The Standard Poor's 400-stock index sells at around 25 times trailing 12-month earnings vs. an average 15 times over the past 38 years. The 400's dividend yield is under 2.6 percent. The 17 other times it was this low since World War II, the index fell an average 11 percent or more in the next 12 months.

Leeb also fears a strong economic pickup that'll pump up inflation and interest rates. As a group, he sees employment, industrial production, manufacturing sales and personal income up an average 12 percent in January 1993, vs. January 1992. They fell an average 2.6 percent the past 12 months. In general, Leeb shuns such groups as software, biotechnology and specialty retailers.

Granted, he sees profit gains of 15 percent to 30 percent a year over the next three to five years for some players! But he's turned off by lofty price-earnings multiples and hefty rivalry. Some names selling at 38 to 93 times the past 12 months' earnings: Wal-Mart the nation's biggest retailer. "It's a great company but its market value is out of whack with reality," Leeb says. Section credits Page Design by: Cheryl Whitsitt Headlines by: Chris Sifford, Cheryl Whitsitt, Jane Bennett Editing by. Connie Farrow, Chris Sifford Editorial Assistant: June Spence cent in the next month alone and as much as 16 percent within 12 months.

"It's a game of Russian roulette and the odds aren't in your favor," says investment adviser Stephen Leeb. "We suggest you pass the pistol." NYSE, AMEX of local interest OTC stocks Market drifts lower after Wednesday's record Edward D. Jones and Company, Inc. Dow Jones JL Industrials on long-term Treasury bonds around 7.84 percent. In the short-term money market yields held in a range of 4.01 percent for three-month Treasury bills to 4.32 percent for one-year bills.

Volume: 215.06 million shares 3,269.45 3340 3320 3300 3280 3260 FIRM CLOSCHNG FIRM CLOS CHNG AdamsResEnrgy 1 Uggeit 4 Plat) -Vi ALLTEL 37V4 Vi Lilton Industries -Vt 37 -Vfc Lowes 0 -H Best Buy 21 'A -H Manpower 1S7i Blockbuster Ent. U'k Mark IV H'i Burlington Northern 42V. 3M -1 Burlington Resources 34Va Navistar 3't Cons. Freightways 18 -V Philip Morris 76Vi -H DNiards 132 -2Vi Service Merchds 14 'A Empire District 24 -Va SW Bel Corp. Vi Federal Express 52Vi -Vt SttiwestrnEnrgy -H Gannett 45 Stone Container 2t -Vi General frriarmcs 5 Svntex 4Vi General Electric Wt -Vi TCBY 5V.

Vi General Telephone 30 -Vi Telmex 57Va HAR Block 34 Toys Us 34 Hormel 18 Wal-Mart 54V4 Hudson Foods I Wendy's Internaf I 12Vi -Va IBM 7 Whitmn 15 Kmart 52 Zenith 10 FIRM CLOSE ASKED Amcr.Natf 40 40'A App Gxrwutor UVitlv. Boatmtn't Bank 5 45Vh Ofra SA dc CV ADR $1J SU5 CommrctBncshrt MM MM Com IfW i firm I Horn nv, 23V, GnatSouttwni II itvi JA. Hunt 30 JinNnBOOt MVS 25 Mm na Group 13'4 13 MMcanHMancm 3fVi PMI MuHter 33 35 RaoMvttt Federal 12 I3H Roadway SanricM 7m 71VS Saztec IV. 1 irm Oaks ft Survival Ttch. UVd Tyion 17Vi 17ft UnMMoBnanrt 3fft Itft UnMSavtnst 12ft The Associated Press NEW YORK The stock market drifted through an inconclusive session Thursday, pausing after Wednesday's rise to a record high.

Much uncertainty persists on Wall Street about the outlook for both the credit markets and the long-delayed economic recovery. Government figures reported Thursday showed an increase of 7,000 in initial claims for state unemployment insurance in the week ended Feb. 15. That suggested a little more weakness in the job market than analysts had been expecting. The credit markets also meandered aimlessly in Thursday's trading, leaving yields 1-900-733-6000 3240 3220 3200 3180 3180 This News-Leader hot line gives easy access to updated quotes, the latest CD rates and even changes in your portfolio value from the last call.

Calls cost 95 cents per minute. Touchtone callers only. F- Th 500 Down 1.49 to 413.86.