June 23, 1993

When I.B.M. brought Bruce Claflin back from Tokyo last year to manage the company's notebook computer unit, he was elated. The 40-year-old marketing executive had been given his own business to run. Then reality set in. "It took me about a month to understand how deep a hole the business was in," Mr. Claflin recalled. "I don't think you could get it any worse than it was."

In a move angering European and Asian steelmakers, the Clinton Administration announced steep penalties today on steel from 19 countries that the Commerce Department said had been sold at less than fair value. The ruling would more than double the price of some imported steel -- and, for many foreign companies, significantly increase punitive duties beyond the levels of the preliminary penalties announced in January.

A 17-year-old student was stabbed in the stomach and critically injured yesterday after confronting another student who had squirted him with a water gun outside a Queens high school known for its high academic standing, the police said. Edwin Correa, a senior at Forest Hills High School, stumbled back into the school for help before being taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he underwent surgery. He was listed in critical condition yesterday, hospital officials said. The suspect, whom the police identified as Eliott Encarnacion, 16, was arrested.

In the final leg of his three-year stint at the top of Coopers & Lybrand, Eugene M. Freedman is setting the stage to extend his stay, some people inside the big accounting firm contend. Mr. Freedman says he has not "even thought about it," and is totally focused on improving the business, but that he might think about it in the next six to nine months. He does volunteer that he has "got a lot of hell left to raise."

Kicking off a general selloff of retail stocks, the Kmart Corporation warned Wall Street yesterday that its second-quarter earnings were likely to be significantly lower than last year. The company added that if consumer spending continued to languish, profits might be down for the entire year. Its stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, hit a one-year low, dipping $1.50 to close at $20.125.