El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 25

El Paso Times Pago 7C nn Friday July 22, 1994 Executive business editor Ramon Bracamontes, 546-6145 8C Stocks lomes among unaffordable Dow Jones i industrials jm Close: 3732.45 HI Volume: 290.76 million 3960 3900 3850 3800 Texas' most-affordable and least-affordable housing markets: METRO AREA PCT Most affordable Brazoria 95.3 Beaumont 90.5 3750 3700 3650 3600 ing the January March period, up from 7.27 percent the previ ous three months, the associa iion said. Mortgage rates were in the double digits during most of the 1980s. Word that El Paso has one of the country's least affordable housing markets appears to con tradict reports from El Paso builders that home sales in the city are brisk. A recent Parade of Homes show on the city's West Side featured expensive homes that were almost all sold by the show's end. A Preview of Please see Homes 10C By Lydla Vlllalva LIJo El Paso Times News that a national survey bestowed El Paso with the dubious distinction of having one of the country's least affordable housing markets isn't anything new to El Paso housing observers.

"I'm not surprised," said Roberto Alvarado, executive director of the El Paso Housing Authority. "This is not new," said John Gross, executive vice president and director of the El Paso Association of Builders and Contrac group reported that housing re-mained affordable in many areas of the country, especially the Midwest and the South, despite slightly higher mortgage rates during the first quarter. "Although there are many places where affording a home is out of reach for many families, the low mortgage interest rates that we have been enjoying for nearly a year make housing more affordable everywhere," said Tommy Thompson, president of the National Association of Home Builders Thirty-year, fixed rate mortgages averaged 7.56 percent dur tors. The survey by the National Association of Home Builders found that 15 of the 25 most affordable areas were in the Midwest. The least affordable markets were mostly in the West and the Northeast.

El Paso had the least affordable market in the South and in Texas. The Home Builders' Housing Opportunity Index is compiled from the survey of 330,000 sales of new and previously owned homes in 174 urban markets. Four more were in the South and seven in the Northeast. On balance, the builders' a wpbw w. i.

Least affordable El Paso June 24 FMTWT NYSE 0.36 at 250.06 59.3 AM EX 0.24 at 433.24 Number indicates percentage of homes sold that were wnnm reach of the median income household S4P500 138at527.B1 NASDAQ, at 715.03 Market summary: IBM r-md other companies whose second-quarter profits beat the predictions of Wall Street prog-rlsticator were rewarded Thursday by investors who sent their stocks up strongly. I MMlMs El Paso Times BORDERLAND In-house promotion: Martha Nevarez has been named trea stock soars Earnings beyond what was expected Gannett News Service I surer of de Bruyn Cooper Maldonado in El Paso. Nevarez, a 14-year employee, al- so was ap-Nevarez pointed to the board of directors. Nevarez specializes in accounting and computer systems management while handling Mexico-based accounts. Station moves: KFOX TV 14, the local Fox affiliate television station has completed its move and expansion into a new building at 6004 N.

Mesa, the former Coronado Bank Station General Manager Don Caparis said the move was needed because the other building was too small. KFOX will begin broadcasting National Foot ball League games in August. ELSEWHERE Company shopping: Liberty Media Corp. joined Comcast $2.2 billion offer for home shopping network QVC helping Comcast strengthen the buyout proposal by changing it to all-cash. tli itBttfc A -lMBfa'-fa' Mm WiiHffW' Victor Calzada El Paso Times Hispanic Chamber of Commerce chairman-elect Jose Lopez unveiled a new campaign to keep jobs and money in El Paso.

Pete Parraz of All Sports Apparel is at left. Keep jobs at home, campaign urges F'irst the pain, now the gain. IBM, reaping the benefits of a sweeping cost cutting campaign, stunned Wall Street with better than expected second -quarter earnings Thursday. The comput er giant's stock lumped 4 to $60' IBM reported net income of $689 million, or $1.14 a share, last quarter a turnaround from a loss of $8 billion, or $14.10 a share, after an $8.9 bil lion restructuring charge a year earlier. The belt tightening isn't over: IBM wants spending cuts for the 1992-1996 time period to reach $8 billion up from a previous target of $7 billion.

Computer analysts on Wall Street had expected IBM to earn about 69 cents a share last quarter, Zacks Investment Research says. The strong results suggest CEO Louis Gerstner, who ar rived in April 1993, may be whipping once-bloated IBM into fighting shape. "The earnings improvements came a little faster than we thought they would as recently as three or four months ago," IBM chief financial officer Je rome York told analysts. But "we fully recognize that we have a lot left to do." Task No. 1: generating new business.

Revenue crept up percent to $15.4 billion last quarter and was sluggish nearly everywhere but Asia. IBM said its U.S. personal computer business was weak. In ternational Data Corp. says it's possible IBM will fall behind ri val Compaq Computer in PC sales this year for the first time.

CFO York says IBM confused customers bv offering too manv kinds of PCs Peter Kastner of Aberdeen Group consultants says "IBM is out of intensive care, but it's still too early to send the patient home." trade. "Businesses need a base to pay the rent, and basic expens es, and then they can look for international opportunities." he said. "The international market is more touchy, so businesses need that base." Jose Contreras Corral, spokesman for the Juarez Chamber of Commerce, said building international trade opportunities is the result of building a strong local base. Business owners can get listings of federal, state, and local government contracts at the El Paso Community College Procurement Outreach Center. Information: 534-3405.

By buying local products and services and bidding on area contracts, businesses can help keep millions of dollars that leave Paso every year. For every $20,000 in contracts, one job is created. By Yvette Armendarlz El Paso Times The El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has launched a program intended to recapture millions of dollars that leave El Paso every year, costing El Pasoans thousands of jobs, officials said. Keep It in El Paso is a campaign to persuade corporate and government agencies to purchase goods and services in El Paso, said Joe Lopez, chairman-elect of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The idea is to help companies grow by providing them business, Lopez said.

"There are some opportunities here that we're not taking advantage of," he said. Cynthia Gamez, an economic analyst for the city's Economic omies," she said. "If we have industries here, we should be able to access those services (to help them grow) and not go out of town." Hispanic chamber executive director Larry Romero said the Contreras said the chamber would like to see El PasoJuarez build up its local industries so that it can become a com petitive player in international trade. Development department, said buying locally helps build a foundation for industry. The economy then can rely on itself to produce products for export to other economies.

"For an economy to be healthy, it has to export its products. Right now (our businesses are) helping other econ- Liberty and Comcast, who already own roughly 36 percent of QVC, said Thursday they would pay $1.3 billion in cash for the remaining 29 million shares. The $44-a-share deal values QVC at $2.2 billion. earnings: Corp. reported an 8 percent in-; crease in second-quarter prof-; it and a surge in revenue, indicating it has recovered some business lost in the long-distance brawl with competitors.

The nation's biggest telecommunications company said Thursday it was helped by strong growth in telephone equipment sales, particularly for cellular systems. New Coke president: M. Douglas Ivester, the head of Coca-Cola's U.S. operations, was named company president, a move certain to arouse speculation that he will eventually succeed Chairman Roberto Goizueta. Ivester, 47, and a 13-year veteran of the soft drink company, has been mentioned often as a leading contender for the top job.

But Goizueta recently agreed to stay on indefinitely past 1996, when he turns 65. Timet wire, staff reports campaign should not hurt efforts to get El Paso businesses involved in international Please see Jobs 10C Interactive Muppets Continued cuts mean fewer industrial jobs Get ready to Samba, El Paso Interest rates The survey is done weekly IBI Beverage Inc. from White Plains, New York i8 launching a new soft drink and El Paso will be one of the first cities by Lauterbach, Borschow P.C.. Certified Public Ac countants. All quotes are for a $5,000 balance as of July 19.

Rates are subject to change. Different requirements apply at certain institutions. "The current downsizing trend shows no signs of ending any time soon," said James E. Chal lenger, president of Challenger. Gray Christmas.

By Challenger's reckoning, the most cuts announced so far this year have come from Digital Equipment Corp. with 20,000 jobs; GTE Corp. with 17,000 jobs; Nynex with 16,800 jobs; with 15.000 jobs; and Delta Air Lines with 15,000 jobs, New York based companies cut the most workers 46,947 during the first six months, followed by Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and California, the firm said. Although the aerospace industry announced the second-largest number of cuts in the first half of 1994 with 32,388, it was far below the 82,080 cuts during the same period last year. Retailing companies, which announced 60,070 job cuts during the first half of 1993, announced 16,381 job cuts during the latest six-month period.

Associated Press NEW YORK Four major industries that cut the most employees in 199ii announced even more layoffs during the first half of 1994, a firm that provides job placement services said Thursday. The communications, computer, transportation and utility industries all reported more work force cuts from January through June than for the same period in 1993, said Challenger, Gray Christmas which tracks job cuts. The aerospace and retail in- dustries were the only two in dustries among the top six cut back sectors to announce fewer job cuts so far this year, the firm said. According to its tally, employers in the six categories cut 299,993 jobs during the first six months of 1994, a 17 percent increase over the 254,878 cuts made during the same period in 1993. to get the drink.

The drink Is called Samba. It is naturally caffeinated and based on Brazil's guarana berry and other exotic ingredients. The flavors will be Original Guarana, Raspberry Passion, Papaya Orange and Mango Guava. The drink should be in the market later this month. Cartlftctt of Dport a Money Bank mo.

yra. MuM Bank ol El Paso 3.80 4.94 2.38 BanKoMtwWMt 3813 4.785 2.709 Bluebonnot 4.19 5 20 2.27 Continental 3.89 6.09 2.84 Flrat National 3 96 4.91 2 53 Moot wood 3.906 4.784 2.580 NationsBank 3.60 4.00 290 Stale National 3.87 4.75 2.38 Sunweat 3.85 4.78 2 52 8unWottd 4.09 S.2S 2.94 "fexasCommarc 4.23 $.54 2.12 Associated Press "Do you think it's the way to the information superhighway?" Fozzie Bear asks Kermit the Frog. Jim Henson Productions announced it is developing interactive computer games based on the Muppets. El Paso Timaa 1.