Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 17

Star-Telegram MORNING AUGUST 30 1983 1K111CIEWIICWSANIEWM 'S? -I 4 tsv 1 1 14 0 A 4 4 4 4 1 I 1' I I I I I I fi I r7A 4 I 4 4 ul I I fikin7wa 1 A I- o' MORNING AUGUST 30 1983 I i Home sales decline Hol tr liar de deficit rises in July gage interest rates helped slow the housing industry's recovery from the recession Last week a real estate trade group said July home resales fell 44 percent from June The nation's trade position meanwhile continued to weaken last month The Commerce Department said the merchandise trade deficit excluding investment transactions and trade in services such as tourism widened to $6i billion from $49 billion in June US exports fell 22 percent from June while imports rose 47 percent Associated Press New home sales slumped in July and the US trade deficit worsened the government said Monday A separate report offered an encouraging outlook for job seekers Sales of new single-family homes fell 65 percent in July from the month before to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 620000 homes Despite the slowdown the latest month's sales rate was 70 percent higher than in July 1982 Sales declined in every region of the country as an increase in mort Asso New home and the US tr the governmei arate report ing outlook fa Sales of new fell 65 percei month before justed annual Despite the month's sales higher than in Sales declini the country as The July shortfall pushed the merchandise trade deficit for the first seven months of the year to $336 billion compared with $1903 billion in the same period last year The US trade position has deteriorated as the value of the US dollar has risen on foreign exchange markets The dollar's strength in relation to the currencies of the major US trade partners makes US-built goods less attractive to foreign buyers It also tends to boost US imports of foreign-made goods Malcolm Baldrige the Commerce Secretary said his department expects a record billion merchandise trade deficit for all of 1983 and a "much higher" shortfall in 1984 The trade deficit last year was a record $427 billion In a more upbeat report the Conference Board said its index of help wanted advertising rose sharply throughout the nation in July a sign of an improving job market The index which measures the volume of help wanted advertising in 51 major newspapers rose eight points from June and 17 points from July 1982 The Conference Board isa business-sponsored group that regularly reports on economic trends Kenneth Goldstein an economist at the Conference Board said the latest increase in the help wanted index meant employment is improving "much faster than even the most optimistic projections of only a few months ago" In other economic developments: The American Iron and Steel Institute said domestic steel production rose 5 percent last week to 1623 million tons The industry's production amounted to 564 percent of capacity during the week compared with 537 percent the week before The Federal Home Loan Bank Board said savers deposited nearly $4 billion more in savings and loan associations in July than they withdrew more than twice the net gain in June Also the board said the institutions closed $12 billion in home loans last month less than the record $139 billion of the previous month Star-TeiooramDE BB I JON ES III liti Ar 4 0 's 11 4 i 1 I 1 gr: 'S' -'-i I- i 7: r- 11 11-1-' 4 7 1-- 1 1 4' --11L 1: r'gr112: ftel---- '1 ti kflop ----'----7 ao "----11'' e--7 -t A Nik -i-a -It 1 I 75' 1 1- 22: 4 7 A i 4'4111 1 I 11 A A A oi- 't 4 1 11 I VI trt-I I 11 A- i 11 1( it I 1 for i Hri-: i 4 tO 0' I 1 1 ellit11 im4 5 tif --P4! 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How long will the match with its undercurrent of old grudges endure? And will the confrontation touch the newspaper industry at large? "It (the new paper) could be on the cutting edge if not be the cutting edge itself of a trend" said Peter Ford a researcher at the Rochester offices of Gannett Newspapers the major small-dailies owner whose nationally circulated USA Today nearly a year old is the first new daily in a generation to have survived beyond a few months "An entrenched product in a 'hometown' market could very well antagonize its target readership simply by its not being a home-owned publication And the time is right for new well-produced papers tailored to specific markets "As I see it this new (Huntsville) paper could very well be what its community feels a need for" said Ford "It is as far as I know the first of its kind in 30 years and if it proves viable its introductory phase and corners the advertisers it will I INSIDE Business is thriving aftey shrinking size Cable TV is facing 2 fresh approaches rat ECONOMY WATCH Not since the 1950s has education been the subject of so much public conversation 5 Personnel 1111111111 illiiiiiii Status report report 1111111111111111111111 11111111111111111111111 1llall111511111 LISPOItinklf 111111y4111NO MINNAMNI UNISONS' REAL ESTATE By MICHAEL PRICE Star-Telegram Business liter Two distinct television programming industries newly stabilized by federal communications policy and an infusion of regional investor support are mounting fresh challenges to the cable industry in separate bids to corral the home entertainmentinformation market In a three-year tug-of-war that involved show-business elder statesmen like Gene Autry and George Burns only the Grand Prairie subscription TV (STV) firm of VEU Inc has endured Where once VEU touted its services in comparison with those of two other STV operations with Burns twirling his cigar and declaring "I love VEU" today it has neither PREVIEW nor ON-TV to kick around So VEU has dropped Burns hired network game-show host Art Fleming to beat its drum and aimed its pitch at luring subscribers away from cable The new slogan borrowed from Pepsi-Cola is "Take the VEU challenge" By MICHAEL II PRICE StarTelegram business Writer Growth hasn't exactly been a leaps-and-bounds matter for Jack Howard Co Inc a Fort Worth tailorretailer whose development has been more a matter of forced shrinkage and planned consolidation than of hustling to spread out "You can't be in two places at once" says founder Jack Howard 65 a shirtsleeves manager whom close acquaintances often accuse of being in two places at once that's how deep his business drive and community-booster involvement run Howard tried a two-location operation once in the mid-I970s when he left his original Seminary South storefront for a West Berry Street base then joined the West Side merchant community in Wellington Square Heavy smoke damage from a fire at Wellington where be had meant to consolidate the firm choked out that branch "but I figured 'What the Howard said "It threw us out in the street There is so much capital seeking real estate ventures that the industry appears to be reliving the oil industry's experience just three short years ago when investors literally were throwing money at drilling partnerships 10 THE WORK PLACE The proper chair can add to an employee's productivity 4 INDEX' 4 1 "The demise of ON-TV and (our) of PREVIEW eliminated all the local STV competition" VEU declared in a recent statement to the Star-Telegram "New ownership has established new battle lines and the competition now aimed at is cable" The declaration is perhaps an oversimplification of a market picture made more complex by the assertion of yet another kind of pay-TV the multipoint distribution service (NIDS) which goes by the name for now at least of MovieVision in Tarrant and Dallas counties And the complexity doesn't stop there MovieVision as of September will change its name to ON-TV whose programming it assumed earlier this year when the srv operation of that name ran aground in the battle with VEU Please see 2 on Page 6 ON-TV and (our) EVIEW eliminatTV competition" recent statement am "New owner-shed new battle ompetition now is perhaps an a of a market plc-complex by the lother kind of pay-it distribution sergoes by the name of MovieVision in counties exity doesn't stop In as of September name to ON-TV ming it assumed hen the srv operne ran aground in 'EU 2 on Page 6 01161011 but the business "Thrived" might be more accurate Changes forced by the damages put Howard Co by 1976 at the foot of a plateau Howard and his family are only now cresting Howard who had intended to leave the 'South Side for Ridglea said he "held onto the Berry Street property until the proper West Side location presented itself then moved on it' Howard's seventh year at 6248 Camp Bowie Blvd is proving to generate "the largest volume of business this family store has seen since I got into the business 25 years ago" Though disinclined to state the rise in dollar and emphasizing how the price of a wardrobe item has more than quadrupled in a generation Howard has demonstrated his growth confidence by converting a fifth of the store to Please see Howard on Page 6 c): Agenda 2 Personnel Economy watch 5 Real estate Markets 12-15 Tuesday seminar 2 10 3 A 1 -'d k'.