The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 42

4 -11" AP --P -IP -P --P --Y sew orvirver IF II TliE NEWS OBSERVER THURSDAY MAY 5 1994 I Wil Bt 8c Ti i 1 It 4 1 11 '1 1 terest rates 4 1 lei jobs tet to $769 to $769 a :::1 ers say BY DAVE SKIDMORE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS to do with the Fed's action on short-term rates and more to do with market participants' lack of confidence in Clinton administration economic policies "The long-term interest rates are set by a market which is smart enough to know there has not been fiscal constraint We have had an economic policy of increased taxes and increased spending" he said Bond said the weak dollar pulled down by the widening US trade deficit also is putting upward pressure on interest rates Reserve into keeping interest rates low Sen Paul Sarbanes D-Md chairman of the housing subcommittee complained that although the tighter monetary policy presumably is aimed at pre-empting the buildup of inflationary pressures it comes as consumer price inflation is the lowest since the mid-1960s The rise in long-term rates which coincided with the Fed's action on short-term rates already is discouraging home buyers Sarbanes said and has pushed up the monthly payment on a $100000 mortgage from $666 "I think we've got a pre-emptive strike 'against' growth It's very puzzling what they're doing and we're very deeply concerned about it' he said Sen Jim Sasser D-Tenn chair man of the Senate Budget Committee said higher rates also threaten many businesses that depend on the housing market including furniture manufacturers in his home state "The Fed's actions bleed into all facets of our lives" he said But Sen Christopher Bond Mo said rising long-term rates such as mortgage rates have less Colton told the Senate Banking subcommittee on housingtis association has cut its 1994 construction forecast to 139 million homes and apartments down 38000 from its previous prediction That translates into 80000 fewer construction jobs he said And if long-term rates don't decline modestly later this year as the association expects another 100000 jobs will be lost or won't be created he said Colton's testimony was part of a continuing campaign by congres- sional Democrats to pressure the Republican-controlled Federal years'! said Kent Colton executive vice president of the National Association of Home Builders Since early February the Federal Reserve has pushed short-term interest rates up by three-quarters of a percentage point During the same period long-term interest rates set in financial markets have risen Ph points Fixed-rate 30-year mortgages for instance are hovering around 8 percent up from slightly less than 7 percent before the Fed began moving In response to the increases A NEW ERA IN TRADING :1 4 --e '7- 0-- i'' ii :::1 'L''''''''''''' f-'' i''- -I 2 4 4 -'1? '4 'i -2 1 'v' 'T c'3' i' i'''1 jr '4' iyys c- o': 1 tt 4g ''ir' i' 'I' -19 '-z -''''''''Z1'''H2 '77'''': ii' -i 41) -0 if -'t '-t-''''1: i '4' '''3' Vi iffi4 1 's' ::1 tilit'l -77' -4" f'' s' ff7t' t'ArlY' 11 O'''''''''1 51'i--- '711' ia ---7'' 4' -41 At'l i 1' 45k it- '''''7-5'-' S1 1'''' -v' ''''4ii 'i' "AE I st 1 1 sz 2'1 tc'' 'fi VQ'' 'S l'-' ''1k'1' 1 'e '44 )0 4'g '-4'''47 1 '--'''ri4''' vPN' 0 WASHINGTON Rising interest I rates already have trimmed construction payrolls by 80000 jobs and further increases could cost 100000 more jogs and choke the economy's expansion home builders told Congress on Wed nesday "Federal Reserve actions have 1 already dimmed the prospects for housing and the economy in 1094 and 1995 and further tightening could needlessly jeopardize the rather fragile expansions that have evolved over the past three Clayton TV station to be sold Programming for VVYED will change dramatically but Orioles baseball games will remain on the air By TIM GRAY STAFF WRITER WYED-TV Channel 17 in Clayton is being bought by a Rhode Island television company In the deal Outlet Communica tions Inc in Cranston RI will pay $54 million to the station's owner Group Broadcasting Corp in Clayton The firms expect to complete the deal this summer The sale will mean a revamping of the programming at WYED The station broadcasts in the Triangle Goldsboro Fayetteville atid surrounding areas "There's going to be a major change: said Jim Babb Outlet's chairman' president and chief executive officer "There's very tle on there now that's likely to be on there in the fall" 'WYED will remain unaffiliated with a major network but will buy a new slate of programs from syndicators such as Paramount Communications and King World Productions Babb said Specific programs haven't been selected he said But the station expects to main tain and perhaps enhance its focus on local sports said Steven Soldinger the current general manager It already airs high school foot' ball and basketball Campbell University basketball Raleigh IceCaps hockey and a monthly report on the Zebulon Mudcats baseball team Plus it will broad' cast 32 Baltimore Orioles baseball games this year Outlet which employs about 300 people owns and operates NBC affiliate stations in Ohio and Providence RI The publicly owned company reported net income of $557000 or 8 cents a share for the quarter ended March 31 Five-year-old WYED employs about 25 people Northern 1 Ipmen qut comes 1 from RTP ant FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK North- ern Telecom Inc said it won a $40 1 million contract to supply FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK North ern Telecom Inc said it won a $40 million contract to supply A 10-foot-long Chinese dragon winds its way through the trading floor of the American Stock Exchange in New York Wednesday during festivities to kick off the newly created Amex Hong Kong Option Index Consisting of the 30 most highly capitalized Hong Kong stocks the index is designed to be a barometer of that market's activity THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GE unit may get Saudi work cots27 jobs Maryland firm halts duplication By DAVID RANI! STAFF WRITER QE Software which took the fast track to success in its eight years as an entrepreneurial software company has hit a few potholes now that it has been swallowed by a larger corporation Less than two weeks after the Raleigh company was acquired by lv Inc of Rockville Md 27 Raleigh employees about fifth of the total in have either lost their jobs or have been told that their jobs will be phased out within six months The 27 number is "overstated" however because a few affected employees have been offered similar jobs at other Intersolv operations and five or six employees have been offered jobs at a higher level elsewhere said Kenneth Sexton chief financial officer Still it's a rude awakening for the Raleigh operation which grew from 85 employees in October 1992 to 150 last month That's when Intersolv acquired QE for cash and stock valued at $34 million Of those 150 QE workers 125 worked in Raleigh before the sale Most of the employees whose jobs are being terminated worked in the accounting department and the warehouse operation company officials said Their tasks also were being performed by Intersolv employees elsewhere "This is a one-time-only reduction in force to eliminate duplication" Intersolv spokesman Pam Atkinson said Atkinson a former QE employee has been offered the choice of accepting what she called "a very generous severance package" or accepting a new position at Intersolv headquarters Intersolv which had sales of 00 million last year produces software tools that help software programmers design and maintain more efficient programs QE's software products now Intersolv's are "database access tools" that enable PC users and corporate software programmers to work seamlessly and easi SEE QE PAGE 12C MARKET WATCH -1666 closed at 3697-75 -131 closed at 45172 -S5637 S4511655 billion INDS down from 734 -061' closed at 25075 500 WILSHIRE closed at 30-YEAR BO 733 NYSE NASDAQ AMEX 093 closed at 740308 MO closed at 44379 DOW 50C Durham The national airline reportedly has agreed to buy $13 billion in jet engines from GE FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS RIYADH Saudi Arabia In a move likely to boost General Electric's fledgling aircraft engine plant in Durham GE reportedly will supply the lion's share of engines for a $6 billion jet deal involving Saudi Arabia's national airline The airline Saudia has decided to buy 29 Boeing 737s five Boeing 747s and 12 Boeing 777s as well as 15 MD-11s from McDonnell about 40 workers with employment expected to increase to as much as 100 people by the end of this year and to 300 by the end of the decade GE has invested about $65 million in recent years to refit the 24- year-old Durham plant on South Miami Boulevard near Research Triangle Park which made steam turbine engines for electric utilities and marine shipping until 1985 Charles Slater president of the Boeing Industrial Technology Group in the Saudi capital said the deal should be wrapped up by July sentative Mickey Kantor said Northern Telecom would be eligible for US government support in seeking foreign contracts after the company agreed to end a preferred-supplier agreement with Bell Canada BCE Inc in Montreal owns 100 percent of Bell Canada and 521 percent of Northern Telecom Douglas according to unidentified aircraft executives quoted in the London-based al-Hayat newspaper GE has been picked to supply engines for most of the 46 Boeing jets the executives said It was chosen to supply $15 billion worth of engines for 29 Boeing 737s and is favored for engines for five Boeing 747s Whether it will supply engines for the remaining 12 Boeing jets is not yet firm according to the executives If it pans out the deal could represent a windfall for GE's Durham plant The company is shifting production of the CF-6 the most pop ern Telecom the US unit of Northern Telecom Ltd in Mississauga Ontario said about 90 percent of the equipment to be installed in Tunisia will be manufactured in the United States All of the central office switches to be installed during the next three years will be made at the company's RTP operations ular engine for wide-body commercial jets from Cincinnati to Durham Each those engines costs about $5 million A GE spokesman said he could not confirm the deal But he said GE plans to begin final assembly work in the second half of the year on the CF-6 turbofan engines GE also is gearing up to produce one of the company's most promising new jet engines the GE-90 The first GE-90s which will go in Boeing 777 aircraft and are expected to sell for $5 million to $7 million each will be produced for test flights in mid-1995 The Durham plant employs Northern Telecom said it sees the potential for further orders from the northern Africa region encompassing Tunisia Algeria Libya Morocco and Mauritania This year the company has announced about 25 contracts for international sales of its equipment In late March US trade repre Telecom signs $40 million deal with Tunisia telecommunications equipment 1 lp made at its Research Triangle Park plant to the Tunisian government The equipment will be used to help expand the northern African country's telephone network by more than 30 percent the compa fly said Nashville Tenn-based North BRIEFS' El changed the name of Concert its statewide communications network to the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NC-REM The network started in 1984 provides interactive audio and video for the state's universities and scientific researchers chains have changed their popcorn policies just a week after a consumer group revealed that movie theater popcorn prepared with coconut oil contains high levels of saturated fat The United Artists chain the nation's largest theater chain plans to introduce an air-popped alternative while third-largest AMC Entertainment chain now says it will use healthier canola oil Chamber of Commerce The 55-year old entrepreneur will serve on the board for at least three years Stacy's company translates publications manuals and correspondence into a variety of languages and teaches languages among other things Stacy earned her bachelor's at Coker College in Hartsville SC and her master's at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill TRIANGLE Popcorn changes The major theater chains say they will start popping popcorn in canola oil rather than artery-clogging coconut oil One chain says it will even begin offering an air-popped alternative "Our goal is to provide our patrons with a healthier choice at our conces: sion stands" Sony Theatres-Loews Theatres said Tuesday The New York-based chain which has almost 1000 screens in 15 states said the change will go into effect by May 13 At least two other movie theater STATE JP to cut board GREENSBORO Corp said Wednesday that its shareholders approved a management-sponsored proposal to reduce the size of the board SEE BRIEFS PAGE 12C New network name E21 ii El Us chamber calls RALEIGH Carey I Stacy president and chief executive officer of Dia Logos International Inc in Raleigh has been elected to the board of the US RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK MCNC formerly known as the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina has I 1.