November 21, 1990

The United States' dependence on Persian Gulf oil can be explained in part by a tale of two Chevys. The two 1990 Chevrolet Corsicas look alike and have identical legroom, headroom and trunk space. The difference is in the engines: one takes the car from a standstill to 60 miles an hour in less than 10 seconds and travels 22 miles on a gallon of gasoline. The other takes about four seconds longer to reach 60 miles an hour, but gets five more miles to the gallon.

Reflecting the growing view in the Bush Administration that unnecessarily tight credit is contributing to softness in the economy, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady urged bankers and Government regulators last night to take steps to make loans more readily available. In a speech at a dinner of the New York chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, Mr. Brady said that even in hard times banks had many ways to strengthen their balance sheets without restricting loans to creditworthy customers.

Store executives across the nation, anticipating a disappointing Christmas season beginning Friday, have already cut back on merchandise and held big sales. But a few, seeing a glimmer of hope in their early November sales, say the situation is so uncertain that results could end up being much better than predicted. Many stores, having looked hard at the stuttering sales of recent months, are not taking any chances. To try to seize control early, chains ranging from Nordstrom to Sears and from Saks to Woolworth have in recent weeks reduced the number of items they keep in stock and cut their non-sales staffs.

SOMEBODY should write a book titled, "Women Who Love Men Who Can't Carve." It would be an instant best seller. Women would run to the self-help sections of book stores and snap up every copy during the holiday season. This is a time when women of all ages complain that men in their 20's and 30's cannot carve Thanksgiving turkeys the way their fathers and grandfathers did. Men do not deny it.

THE ECONOMY Delinquent mortgages at Citicorp increased substantially in the third quarter to 3.6 percent of the dollar amount or loans, up from 3 percent at June 30, with much of the rise coming from the economically depressed Northeast. [ Page D1. ] Home building plunged 6 percent in October, the Commerce Department said, extending the longest slide on record and putting starts at their lowest level since the 1981-82 recession. [ D1. ] Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady urged bankers and Government regulators to make loans more readily available. [ D1. ] Americans consume 40 percent of the world's gasoline, even though they make up only 4 percent of the world's population. [ A1. ] Michael R. Milken is to be sentenced today on six felony charges to which he pleaded guilty. He faces a maximum of 28 years in prison, but legal experts generally predict 2 to 10 years. Whatever sentence Federal District Judge Kimba M. Wood hands down, the experts say, controversy will follow. [ D1. ] Store executives across the nation, foreseeing a disappointing Christmas season, are cutting back on merchandise and holding sales. But a few see hope in their early November sales. [ D1. ] An aide to Senator John McCain testified that she warned the Arizona Republican that his colleague, Senator Dennis DeConcini, was seeking to press Mr. McCain into improper negotiations with regulators on behalf of a savings unit executive. [ B8. ] MARKETS The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 35.15 points, to 2530.20, as Boeing led blue chip stocks sharply downward. [ D1. ] Oil prices fell sharply as traders concluded that a military confrontation with Iraq was unlikely anytime soon. [ D6. ] The dollar rose against most major currencies, particularly the British pound. [ D17. ] Grain prices skidded on the Chicago Board of Trade, in the absence of a food aid plan for Moscow. [ D17. ] Prices of Treasury securities rose, and interest rates fell in thin trading in response to a 3.29-point drop in the Commodity Research Bureau's index of 21 leading commodity prices to 223.15, its lowest level since July 1989. [ D16. ] Yields on bank certificates of deposit and money market accounts were mostly lower. [ D20. ] COMPANIES Mollie Raab, the wife of Genentech's president and chief executive, G. Kirk Raab, was fined $162,400 by the S.E.C. in settlement of an insider trading case. [ D2. ] JMB Realty confirmed reports that it would slow its pace of buying and developing shopping centers and office buildings. [ D4. ] CBS will cut program payments to its affiliated stations by 20 percent, the network said, saving about $30 million a year. [ D4. ] The Daily News announced that it was filing civil suits against 11 individual strikers, who, it said, have hurt newspaper sales. [ B2. ] BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY Electronics and computer companies are introducing products to link computers with light, radio and microwave signals, to lessen the snarl of wiring in offices. [ D9. ] The aluminum can is now taking on the market for noncarbonated beverages and foods, as well as carbonated beverages. [ D9. ] TODAY'S COLUMNS Redirecting the products of Europe's farm subsidies from competitive world markets to Soviet tables might solve both the trade and Soviet food problems. Peter Passell: Economic Scene. [ D2. ] Zenith Electronics may be running out of time to carry off a strategy to become a technology pioneer. Market Place. [ D10. ] The stock of London-based WPP Group tumbled on news that the company expected profits to be less than the $216 million that had been forecast by analysts. Kim Foltz: Advertising. [ D7. ]