September 14, 1992

As residents of southern Florida look to replace, quickly and relatively inexpensively, homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, a boom appears to be beginning in the mobile-home industry. Makers of mobile homes -- including larger ones that are not truly mobile, since they are fabricated in two or three pieces and assembled on the site -- say their plants are running at capacity. They are working to fill orders not only from mobile-home parks that have been devastated by the disaster, but also from distributors that want to keep their supply intact in anticipation of shortages. One Maker's Orders Rise 75% At Fleetwood Enterprises, the nation's largest maker of mobile homes, orders in the last few weeks have risen nearly 75 percent, compared with the period in 1991.

Considering its long love affair with painting, the Netherlands is undertaking an unusual task: It is trying to give away 215,000 works of art. The problem is, most are not the works of Dutch masters, and not everyone wants them.

The war of words between China and the United States appears likely to intensify this week as the two sides meet here for trade talks that have taken on heavy political significance after President Bush's recent decision to sell jet fighters to Taiwan. For the last several years, the United States has insisted that China do more to open its markets to American exports and provide greater protection for foreign patents and copyrights. Several agreements have been hammered out, generally with little fanfare.

The bottom line is that the Giants lost this afternoon. The astounding thing is how they lost. They spotted the Dallas Cowboys a 34-0 lead. Then they rebounded furiously with four touchdowns in four possessions in a little more than 17 minutes. Then, after failing to move the ball on a fifth drive, they missed one last chance when the Cowboys completed a third-down pass with 1 minutes 40 seconds to go, allowing Dallas to run out the clock.

Gillette. Bacardi. Nabisco. Parker Pen. Martini & Rossi. Stella D'Oro. After sputtering for almost two years, merger and acquisition activity suddenly picked up in the last two weeks, and the traffic was heavy with well-known brand names.