July 17, 1990

LEAD: Prices of some RJR Nabisco ''junk bonds'' soared - though not to expected levels - in heavy trading yesterday, as a $6.9 billion refinancing plan was generally well received by Wall Street.

LEAD: ''It's Shelbie's birthday?'' asked Jordana Bloom, petting a customer at her gourmet health-food store. ''It's your birthday, Shelbie? Did you tell Jeannette it's Shelbie's birthday?'' Jeanette Champsaur, star saleswoman at Lick Your Chops, was up front finishing a high-protein, high-fiber order for a new customer, Wizzy Wig.

LEAD: The vast and rich Ukraine, one of the largest and most important republics in the Soviet Union, became the latest to declare its sovereignty today, challenging the Gorbachev Government to a larger share of self-determination and natural resources.

LEAD: A smoky four-alarm blaze broke out in the Empire State Building last evening, injuring 38 people, including 31 firefighters, and miring traffic in that part of midtown for hours.

LEAD: Apparently trying to generate an atmosphere of crisis, the Administration sharply raised its official estimate of the Federal deficit in the next fiscal year and predicted dire consequences from automatic spending cuts - including steep reductions in spending on the military, air-traffic control and health services - if a budget agreement with

LEAD: THE ECONOMY McDonnell Douglas will eliminate as many as 17,000 jobs, or 13 percent of its work force. The cutbacks represent the most striking example yet of the impact of declining Pentagon spending and intense competition in the commercial aircraft business. [Page A1.] The F.C.C.

LEAD: Even before this month, Eli Lilly & Company was having a year beyond the dreams of most American companies: It was well on its way to surpassing its 1989 performance, when it was the fourth-best company on the Fortune 500 list in terms of profit as a percentage of sales.

LEAD: A bitter and intensifying quarrel between Caterpillar Inc. and Wall Street analysts over the company's delayed disclosure of information that proved damaging to its stock price raises several important questions for companies and investors alike:

LEAD: WHEN men are domineering and intensely competitive, it may be just another case of raging hormones, specifically the male sex hormone testosterone, researchers say.

LEAD: Problems with bad real estate loans and sluggish demand for new loans are depressing profits of some large banks around the country, reports yesterday of earnings for the second quarter showed.

LEAD: In a stronger-than-expected report that pushed its stock to a new high for the year, the International Business Machines Corporation yesterday reported a 5.2 percent rise in its second-quarter net income on an 8.4 percent revenue gain.

LEAD: The woman known as the Central Park jogger walked unsteadily into the witness box in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday, suddenly taking a visible role in a case that has proceeded publicly without her in the 15 months since she was beaten and left for dead.