November 13, 1981

In a discouraging prelude to the usually brisk Christmas selling season, the Government reported today that retail sales fell 1.5 percent last month. The decline, to $87.2 billion, was the largest since April. A 5.5 percent drop, to $26.85 billion, in sales of durable goods such as major appliances hurt the month's overall retail sales. Durable goods sales declined one-tenth of 1 percent in September, to an adjusted $28.4 billion.

Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said today that American foreign policy sought to build a constructive relationship with Moscow while renewing traditional alliances. He also called for restoring American economic and military strength and promoting peaceful development in the third world. He made the statements in a review of the Administration's foreign policy for Excerpts from Haig speech, page A8. the House Foreign Affairs Committee. During questioning, the Secretary of State refused to rule out the possibility of a United States blockade of Nicaragua. He also declined to give assurances sought by a committee member, Representative Gerry E. Studds, Democrat of Massachusetts, that the United States would not support or encourage Nicaraguan exile groups in this country or Honduras who may be trying to weaken or overthrow the Nicaraguan Government.

A table in Business Day on Wednesday incorrectly listed 1980 third-quarter earnings per share for Miller-Wohl, a clothing chain. The correct figure is 79 cents.

Three major banks lowered their prime lending rates yesterday by half a percentage point, to 16 1/2 percent, the lowest level of the past year. Bankers and economists, who attributed the decline to the sluggish economy and to sharp declines in what banks must pay for their own money, predicted that the prime would continue to fall. ''If banks' cost of money just stays where it is for the next few weeks, the prime will not merely drop to 16 percent, but to 15 percent,'' predicted Irwin L. Kellner, senior vice president and chief economist of the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company.

Residents of Suffolk County will no longer have to fight ring-around-the-collar without the pow-pow-power of their favorite laundry detergents. Under the wondering eyes of shoppers pushing their carts around the Waldbaum's supermarket here, the Suffolk County Executive, Peter F. Cohalan, presided today at a ceremonial bill- signing that ended a 10-year-old ban on detergents. It was the only ban of its kind in the country, according to detergent industry officials. A number of such executives who were on hand today, along with almost all the shoppers who were asked for their opinion, welcomed the change. They predicted easier washdays and more sales tax revenues for the county.