October 29, 1984

It seems like a natural combination of high technology and high finance: the trading of stocks and the monitoring of their performance by home computer. So far, however, computer owners have been slow to bite. Several discount brokerage firms and data base companies that are marketing these stock services to individuals for their home computers say that sales have been below expectations. And one discounter, Texas Securities Inc., has already stopped offering an at-home execution feature that let home computer operators enter orders to buy and sell shares with just a few keystrokes - and no phone call to a broker.

Voter registration drives this year have added millions of new names to the rolls, according to election officials. As a result, they say, a steady 20- year decline in the percentage of people of voting age who turn out for Presidential elections may be reversed Nov. 6. A spot check of 30 states indicates that registrations in most states are up substantially over 1980 and the public and private groups that conducted the drives are working to get the newly registered to the polls on Election Day, a week from Tuesday. Totals Must Await Election Because of the complex decentralized system of registration in which no running national totals are kept, the approximate number of new registrants will not be known until after the election. But nonpartisan officials and experts have been able to make preliminary assessments of what appeared to be by far the most extensive effort in American history to increase voter participation.

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said yesterday that he would seek to set up a magnetic fare-card system in the city's subways over the next four years. The chairman, Robert R. Kiley, said he would ask the M.T.A.'s board of directors to approve the $40.8 million plan before the end of the year. Under the plan, devised by Arthur D. Little Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., the M.T.A. would first issue credit-card- sized passes to the agency's employees and to students, many of whom ride free. If that worked well, the program would be expanded, Mr. Kiley said.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1984 International A cut in oil production by all 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was recommended by the group's oil markets committee to prop up sagging prices. The key committee also urged the group to address some basic problems in its oil price structure. But the proposals, to be be considered in an emergency OPEC meeting in Geneva today, were dealt a setback when Nigeria refused to cut its oil production or raise its discounted price. (Page A1, Column 6.) An economic crisis in Israel has come to preoccupy the nation more than any immediate military threat for the first time since its founding in 1948. The crisis, economists say, arises not only from military burdens but also from the structure of Israel's political system, the economic restraints of Zionism, and years of living beyond the nation's means. (A1:2-3.)

An article in Business Day on Wednesday about the Beatrice Companies misstated the ownership of a beer importer. The company, All Brand Importers Inc., is 51 percent owned by Nabisco Brands Inc. and 49 percent by Whitbread Holdings Inc.