North County Times from Oceanside, California • 29

fr Tfj- -urws- vArii. irv 41- -r North County Times RJ sMte puts drag on economy BUSINESS BRIEFS Compiled by KATHY DAY from NCT news services Market in brief March 20, 1996 DOW (Industrials) NYSE Neither side has accepted the offer. Reich said he continues to hope the walkout will end soon. The company and the union have a long history of resolving disputes without the assistance of federal mediators, Reich said. Negotiators in Dayton met through the night Tuesday before taking a break at midday, following a session that lasted almost 24 hours.

A union official said the talks will continue. As they talk, North County car dealers under the General Motors umbrella said the strike has posed little threat so far. However, Stephen Duval of Escondidos Classic Buick-Oldsmobile said certain car lines may go into short supply or run out in about 30 days if the strike continues. I think (the strike) will probably go on through the end of the month, when the strike funds run out, said DuvaL It will put pressure on the union for the workers to go back to work. Dave Laski, general sales manager of Weseloh ChevroletGEO in Carlsbad, said inventories in his dealership are built up enough to last through 90 days on most automobiles and 45 days for trucks.

But getting to the end of inventory is some- Local auto dealers say dispute hasnt threatened their business From NCT staff and wire reports DAYTON, Ohio Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Wednesday offered federal mediators to help General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers union settle a 16-day strike that has idled 175,200 GM workers and slowed the growth of the U.S. economy. GROWTH it.it thing he has never seen in his 19 years at Weseloh. We feel like the strike will be settled soon, Laski said.

In Dayton, neither side would comment on progress of the talks. If it takes another 24 hours, well go another 24, said Joe Hasenjager, president of UAW Local 696. The two sides are in the sixth consecutive day of negotiations. While some union picketers expressed optimism Wednesday, J.T. Battenberg, president of GMs Delphi Automotive Systems, where the strike occurred, GM, D2 No Fear moves to defend its name Carlsbad firm battling small T-shirt company WILLIAM McCALl Associated Press RATE SPEAKS WELL NYSE Diary Stocks drop on PC sales reports NEW YORK Stocks fell Wednesday amid renewed concerns about the health of personal computer sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended 14.09 points lower at 5,655.42. A late surge in bonds prompted institutional buying in the stock market, trimming a mid-afternoon loss of 52 points. Broad-market indexes were mostly lower, with the Standard Poors 500 composite down 1.71 at 649.98, the NYSE Composite down 0.35 to 348.20, and the Nasdaq composite off 10.68 to 1,101.82. But the American Stock Exchanges market value index was up 2.70 to 567.27. Stocks weakened despite a rise in bond prices.

The 30-year Treasury bond was up 1 point late in the session, mostly on technical factors, yielding 6.63 percent. The dollar was higher against the German mark and the Japanese yen. Mycogen stock off on suit by Monsanto SAN DIEGO Mycogen Corp. says Monsanto Co. has filed a lawsuit against Mycogen and Ciba Geigy, claiming their first seed corn products with the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insect-resistance infringe a newly-issued Monsanto patent In a prepared statement, Mycogen chief executive Jerry Caulder said he believes the Monsanto patent will be found invalid, based on Mycogens previous work in modifying Bt genes for plant expression and pending patent claims.

Wall Street reacted negatively to the development, driving Mycogen shares down 15.6 percent, $3, to $16 14. Retail sales show modest increase WASHINGTON Consumers returned to department stores, shopping malls and auto dealerships in February, driving retail sales up 0.8 percent after a winter-related stall. But analysts cautioned the rebound did not signal a spending spree, noting job and income growth has been modest at best for many consumers who are already burdened by heavy debt. Consumer spending represents about two-thirds of the nations economic activity. Much of the February strength came from auto dealerships, where sales shot up 2 percent, the biggest gain since a 2.7 percent increase last August, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Excluding autos, one-fourth of the overall total, sales rose just 0.4 percent. Wheat prices hit record on buying spree CHICAGO Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of TVade exploded to an all-time high of $7.50 a bushel Wednesday after a commercial grain dealer scrambled to buy as many as 1 million bushels in the fined minutes before the March futures 1 Iiimmj KRAINIAN ft ms ft I 1 From left, Hugh Jr. and Hugh Sr. In has averaged a growth rate of 70 Carisbad-based Penton Overseas ships nearly 24,000 language products monthly. Lingo turns luorathe Carlsbad company exports language-instruction products wr 'rT -1 Isesjee i mnmmm DAN RIOS North Count? Times DAN RIOS North County Times their warehouse.

The company percent over the past 10 years. That offering was done under a special SEC regulation that allows small companies to raise less than $5 million without an underwriter. The SEC would not comment on the action, but Andrew Klein, Spring Streets chief executive, said the regulators he spoke to BREWER, D2 PORTLAND, Ore. A tiny two-woman company that trades on the positive message No Violence to sell its line of T-shirts and other sportswear has run into trouble from a big corporate competitor, No Fear Inc. Were just two moms, but were not going to go down without a fight, said Jeanette BasL Basl, a crime victim advocate, and Tammi Nix, who lost a friend in a shooting, started their company in rural Turner as a way to send their nonviolent message to kids, especially boys.

Its necessary to develop tools to deliver the message, and thats what our T-shirts do, Basl said Tuesday. Now they have to defend their company name and image against No Fear of Carlsbad, which aims its clothing, shoes and sporting goods at teen-age boys and young men with money to spend. No Fear Inc. has sent No Violence Apparel Inc. a letter threatening a copyright and trademark lawsuit unless No Violence changes its name.

The 'No Fear name is critical to all our products, said Bill Brucker, an attorney in Laguna Hills, representing No Fear. The likelihood for confusion is high, and thats the standard in trademark infringement. We are obligated to enforce our rights in the marketplace or we lose our trademark. Basl sees it as a David vs. Goliath contest, with her small company up against a well-established clothing maker that had $150 million in sales in 1994.

We never imagined in our wildest dreams that a major company like No Fear would be so aggressive, so money hungry, to come after us to shut us down, Basl said. Their company, however, is growing. Their product line. Positive Message Sportswear, now is distributed in 35 states. Composite volume: 493,430,510 1995 avg.

comp, 422,909,640 AP contract expired. Produce Grain a division of Bunge Corp. in St. Louis, sought to buy grain minutes before the final bell sounded but with no sellers was forced to raise its bids to $7.50 a bushel, more than $2 above previous trades, before a seller came forward, traders said. Wheat for March delivery settled at $6.40 a bushel, up $1.33 on the day, after registering a transaction at $7.50 a bushel and another at $7 a bushel, according to board figures.

The price was the highest in the history of the contract, which was launched Jan. 2, 1877. Traders said about 375,000 bushels of wheat traded at $7 a bushel and above. British Airways returning to S.D. SAN DIEGO British Airways will begin daily service between San Diego and Londons Gatwick airport on July 1.

The new flight marks the return of British Air to San Diego after a five-year absence. The eastbound flight will depart San Diego at 7:15 p.m. and arrive in London at 3:50 p.m. the following day. The return flight will depart Gatwick at noon and arrive at Lindbergh Field at 4:40 p.m.

British Airways will use a DC10 with 18 first class, 35 business class and 167 coach class seats. The daily flight will be routed through Phoenix. Fares range from $786 for advance purchase coach class to $8,344 for first class. to put Lotus Notes on Net NEW YORK plans to integrate IBMs upcoming version of Lotus Notes in its Internet service, the long-distance company said Wednesday, weeks after scrapping plans to use the software for linking computers over telephone lines. The new program.

Notes Server, is to be available this summer and will be designed to allow users to collaborate on the same document across the Internet. Knight-Ridder TribunePAUL TRAP PAM KRAGEN North County Times CARLSBAD A dozen years ago, Hugh Penton Sr. was having a hard time in French class. He couldnt get the pronunciation right and the foreign-language audio tapes on the market were so bad. Pen-ton decided to make his own French vocabulary tape.

Then he made another, and another and the rest is Ihistoire. Today, Penton Overseas Inc. ships nearly 24,000 audio, video, software and CD-ROM titles from its Carlsbad headquarters each month. LINGO, D2 Brewers The Financial Times NEW YORK Regulators took the fizz out of Spring Street Brewings launch of Internet share trading Wednesday by stopping the two-day-old experiment in cyber finance. Spring Street, a young Manhattan-based brewing company, voluntarily suspended trading in Net venture corked Study questions quality of HMO-issued drugs its shares Wednesday after the Securities and Exchange Commission requested that trading be halted pending further review.

The company launched its electronic trading system two weeks after completing the first ever public offering over the Internet, in which it raised $1.6 million from 3,500 investors. would likely lead to an increase in medical costs, the study said. The studys chief author said it shows that health plans must pay more attention to a patients overall treatment program not just on individual components like the cost of drugs. If patients and their clinicians work together to get that patient better as quickly as possible, that will lower costs, even if it means taking a more costly drug, said Susan Horn, a senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research in Salt Lake City. The study was welcomed by the nations biggest HMO 6.5 million member Kaiser Foundation Health Plains.

Kaiser has liberal policies on try. It was paid for paid for by the HMOs and by the National Pharmaceutical Council, which represents drug companies. The HMOs agreed to cooperate only if the study authors kept their identities secret. More than 125 million Americans belong to HMOs or other health plans that require or encourage doctors and patients to use drugs from a preferred list called a formulary. One scientist raised questions about the studys methodology.

Richard Kravitz of the University of California at Davis, author of an editorial accompanying the report, noted that only six HMOs were involved. He also pointed out J)at patients weren't! drawn randomly. drug choices and puts doctors, not business executives, in charge of such decisions, said Dr. William Elliott, who chairs a committee that picks drugs for Kaisers northern California region. It would never be in our interest to be penny wise and pound foolish because cutting back in one area obviously would increase costs in another; he said.

Elliott acknowledged that some HMOs impose severe restrictions on drugs that can be counterproductive. He wouldnt name them. The study was published in the American Journal of Managed Care. It covered 13,000 members of six health main1 nance organizations dispersed around the coun STEVE SAKSON Associated Press NEW YORK HMOs that steer their patients to cheaper prescription drugs are actually increasing the cost of care in the long run because some of these people are getting sicker, a new study says. The study challenges a key principle of health maintenance organizations that cheaper medicines such as generics or older formulations reduce costs without degrading the quality of care.

As restrictions on drug choices increase, researchers found more patient visits to physicians, more emf ency room visits and more hospitalizations, all of which.