BUSINESS DIGEST
By Unknown Author
Markets The dollar plunged to a new post-World-War-II low of 92.69 Japanese yen and touched a low against the German mark, sending the Administration scrambling for a way to revive it without tipping the economy into recession. [ Page A1. ] The Dow industrials rebounded from an early slide, closing at 3,997.56, up 7.95 points, but the broader market fell. [ D8. ] Treasury securities fell in a market considered vulnerable to correction, sending the long bond's yield to 7.58 percent. [ D17. ] Wheat and soybean prices surged as investment funds anticipated renewed export demand given the weak dollar. [ D18. ] The Economy In a victory for investors, the Supreme Court ruled that stock brokers may not invoke a commonly used arbitration agreement to refuse to pay punitive damages to customers. [ D1. ] Doctors are fighting back against the growing sway of insurance and health care companies over the practice of medicine. [ D1. ] Government subsidies for corporations are the subject of mounting concern among some Washington policy makers. [ D1. ] Companies Conoco said Iran had awarded it a contract to develop a big offshore oil field in the Persian Gulf. [ A1. ] The head of Walt Disney's television programming business, Richard H. Frank, plans to leave, according to people familiar with his plans, though he has recently denied such rumors. [ D1. ] Big institutional shareholders of W. R. Grace are said to be considering trying to unseat eight directors because of distress about the chief's abrupt resignation last week. [ D2. ] Flight cancellations measure airline reliability better than on-time performance, an analyst at Salomon Brothers said. Both list T.W.A., USAir and Continental as the worst. [ D4. ] Wallace McCain, who was ousted as co-chief executive of McCain Foods of Canada, which he co-founded with his brother, Harrison, plans to head another big concern, Maple Leaf Foods. [ D4. ] Marriott International agreed to acquire about 49 percent of the luxury Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in a $ 200 million deal. [ D4. ] Boeing is lobbying the Clinton Administration to block Federal loan guarantees for a Russian airline's purchase of Russian jetliners equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines. [ D4. ] Elf Aquitaine of France and Williams Companies sold Texasgulf to the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan for $ 810 million. [ D6. ] I.B.M. said it could not keep pace with advance orders for its new Butterfly line of subnotebook computers. [ D17. ] International The battered peso fell to 6.555 to the dollar, as Mexico's political and economic storms swept the currency to its lowest point since the crisis began in December. [ D1. ] Baring P.L.C.'s chairman, Peter Baring, and other top managers will remain at the investment bank, at least until the completion of various investigations into the British firm's collapse, Baring's new owner, the ING Group of the Netherlands, said. [ D1. ] Oppenheimer & Company is for sale, said executives of the securities firm and of ING Group, which suspended negotiations to buy Oppenheimer after its Barings purchase. [ D5. ] Today's Columns The oil industry may begin looking for oil on the Big Board, as it did in the early 1980's, when there was a flurry of takeover activity, some analysts say. Market Place. [ D8. ] The use of reality in ads, intended to infuse them with credibility, has clearly grown, but it runs the risk of being overtaken by events like political turmoil. Stuart Elliott: Advertising. [ D19. ]
