LEAD: For one, brief shining moment, it was turtle time.

TURTLES (DON'T SNICKER) PUT REPTILIAN CHARM ON DISPLAY

LEAD: Although many analysts revised their projections upward in March and April, the major companies they follow still ended up with stronger earnings than Wall Street had anticipated for the first three months of this year.

EARNINGS STRONGER THAN EXPECTED

LEAD: As legislators wrangle in Washington over how to resolve the nation's thrift industry crisis, executives in the giant Texas savings and loan group are grappling with how to handle the worsening situation in this state.

EVEN STRONG SUFFER IN STATE THRIFT CRISIS

LEAD: Night trading, which had its debut at the Chicago Board of Trade on April 30, is off to a good start, exchange officials and traders said. But the current low level of volume is not likely to keep traders -or the exchange - happy for long.

EARLY REVIEWS FAVOR CHICAGO NIGHT TRADING

LEAD: ''They think I'm a criminal,'' Dwayne Gosso said. He was referring to the police officers who found him inside an apartment on West 24th Street and charged him with burglary.

Metro Matters; System's Child: Life in Crime Or in Custody

LEAD: It was too early to call it a revival, or even a comeback. Maybe a stirring, a rustling, a hint of something better. Whatever it was, the Mets revived at least their spirits yesterday when they beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-4, and won for the second time in three games.

YANKS STEAM ON; METS 6, GIANTS 4

LEAD: The uneasiness in the long-term bond markets, where yields have increased 1 1/2 percentage points since late March, is sure to be discussed at tomorrow's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

CAUTIOUS FED STANCE PREDICTED

LEAD: The Boston Celtics, old, tired and aching, survived one of their more grueling tests today with a 119-113 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in the deciding game of the Eastern Conference semifinal. Two points separated the teams in the seven-game series that included an overtime and a double-overtime game.

ACHING CELTICS GET BY BUCKS

LEAD: In the early 1980's, many American manufacturers, reeling under competitive pressures, cut back their production in the United States and began importing components, even entire products, from Japan.

WHERE THE HIGH YEN HURTS

LEAD: Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist and sociologist whose 1944 book, ''An American Dilemma,'' helped to destroy the ''separate but equal'' racial policy in the United States, died yesterday in a hospital in Sweden. He was 88 years old.

GUNNAR MYRDAL, ANALYST OF RACE CRISIS, DIES

LEAD: By the time Willie Randolph slapped a double into the right-field corner today, the game was already moving steadily toward its expected conclusion. Dan Pasqua had delivered a three-run homer in the fifth inning, Joe Niekro had tamed the Seattle Mariners after a shaky start, and the Yankees were moments away from extending their lead in the American League East to two games.

YANKS STEAM ON; YANKS 8, MARINERS 3

LEAD: IN his mind's eye, Charles Hudson can still see vividly the moments of growth in his life. He is sitting in a dugout at this moment, but he is looking fondly into the distance: to idle summer days beneath a shady tree in Texas, to formative college years when he learned his craft, to the beginning of a pro career as a baseball pitcher.

TRANSPLANTED HUDSON BLOOMS AT LAST

LEAD: The Cuomo administration said this weekend that the state's prison system was in ''crisis'' and that within a year it would have 4,700 more inmates than cells to hold them.

NEW YORK REPORTS JAIL SPACE CRISIS

LEAD: After more than eight weeks of wandering in the Caribbean and up and down the East Coast in a futile search for a final resting place, Long Island's outcast garbage was anchored off Brooklyn yesterday, awaiting the outcome of another round of legal and political wrangles.

GARBAGE BARGE RETURNS IN SEARCH OF A DUMP

INSIDE

LEAD: A United States Navy frigate in the Persian Gulf was struck Sunday by a missile fired from an Iraqi warplane, causing serious damage and many casualties, the Reagan Administration said.

IRAQI MISSILE HITS U.S. NAVY FRIGATE IN PERSIAN GULF

LEAD: For the suburban lawns, backyard swimming pools and five-minute car washes of Nassau County, the days of free-flowing faucets and unrestrained sprinklers are numbered.

NASSAU COUNTY GIRDS FOR RULES CURBING WATER USE

LEAD: THE ECONOMY  The Fed is expected to move cautiously on raising interest rates amid continuing uneasiness in the bond markets and signs of weakness in the domestic economy. [ Page D1. ] Importing Japanese parts and products has become costly as the dollar's plunge has forced suppliers to raise prices.

BUSINESS DIGEST: MONDAY, MAY 18, 1987

LEAD: In an experimental effort to stem the rising number of homeless families in New York City, certain welfare recipients will be offered extra benefits ranging from furniture allowances to baby sitters.

CITY TO OFFER EXTRA AID TO FAMILIES

LEAD: New York City's economic engine, after humming smoothly for nearly a decade, backfired twice last month with the announcements that two of the city's oldest and largest corporate citizens, the Mobil Corporation and the J. C. Penney Company, were moving out of town.

CHANGING ERA FOR NEW YORK'S ECONOMY

LEAD: Kidder, Peabody & Company faces a major test in the wake of a forced management shake-up and a pending settlement of insider-trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a number of officials close to the firm.

NO QUICK END IS SEEN FOR KIDDER'S PROBLEMS

LEAD: In the ''Horror'' section of a video store here recently, a boy scanned the titles of dozens of videocassetes displayed on wall racks.

RISING CONCERN WITH VCR'S: VIOLENT TAPES AND THE YOUNG

LEAD: The Federal Aviation Administration opened a new era in control of air traffic yesterday when it began using a computer system designed both to curb delays and improve safety.

NEW AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEM DEPLOYED TO AID SAFETY AND REDUCE DELAYS

LEAD: Secretary of State George P. Shultz tonight gave the strongest American endorsement to date for an international peace conference for the Middle East.

SHULTZ ENDORSES A PEACE PARLEY FOR THE MIDEAST

LEAD: Until they're called up to the big time, it's always a question whether minor league batters will be able to hit major league pitching, but the Richmond Braves of the International League are getting an unusual chance to find out this season without leaving the minor league circuit.

Double Tuneups

Hassan Abdullah Hamdan, more commonly known by his pseudonym Mahdi 'Amel, was a Lebanese Marxist philosopher, historian and militant in the second half of the 20th century.

May 18, 1987

Headlines from May 18, 1987

TURTLES (DON'T SNICKER) PUT REPTILIAN CHARM ON DISPLAY

EARNINGS STRONGER THAN EXPECTED

EVEN STRONG SUFFER IN STATE THRIFT CRISIS

EARLY REVIEWS FAVOR CHICAGO NIGHT TRADING

Metro Matters; System's Child: Life in Crime Or in Custody

Billboard 200

The Joshua Tree

Slippery When Wet

Licensed To Ill

Look What The Cat Dragged In

Graceland

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for May 18, 1987