October 10, 1996

Dow Falls 36.15 Points, Ahead of Earnings Reports Ending a three-day assault on the 6,000-point level, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 36.15 points, to 5,930.62 -- its worst drop in more than a month -- as traders took profits in advance of the release of big third-quarter earnings reports. The blue-chip slide muffled enthusiasm over new strength in the semiconductor industry that limited the drop in the Nasdaq composite index to 2.17 points, to 1,237.98. $(D8.$) Prices of Treasury securities fell as investors reacted to a hint by a Federal Reserve governor that rates could rise. The yield on the 30-year bond rose to 6.83 percent. $(D18.$) Corning in Fraud Case Settlement Corning agreed to plead guilty to Federal charges and pay $119 million in criminal fines and civil penalties in a Medicare fraud case involving clinical laboratory work. $(A25.$) Montgomery Ward Chief May Leave Bernard F. Brennan, the chief executive of Montgomery Ward, the troubled department store chain, will soon be replaced, people familiar with the situation said. The people, who spoke on the condition on anonymity, said that the rumor twisting its way through the retail industry's mill for a month about Mr. Brennan stepping down would prove true by the end of the year. $(D4.$) Microsoft's Internet Beachhead Ten months after outlining Microsoft's strategy for gaining a beachhead in the rapidly growing Internet market, Bill Gates, the company's chairman, is expected to disclose details today of Microsoft's latest plan for dominating the Internet as it already dominates desktop computing. $(D2.$) Southern Company in Asian Deal A unit of the Southern Company agreed to buy a majority stake in Consolidated Electric Power Asia Ltd. in a $2.7 billion deal. $(D4.$) Investors Press WMX Technologies Investors are stepping up the pressure on Phillip B. Rooney, the chief executive of WMX Technologies, to increase the company's stock price by concentrating on what its does best -- domestic trash disposal. $(D2.$) Investor Creates a 'Vulture' Fund PPM America, the Chicago subsidiary of the Prudential Corporation of Britain, is raising $300 million to invest in the securities of financially troubled companies. $(D8.$) Two Banks Report Lower Earnings Two regional banks -- Barnett Banks of Florida and First Bank System of Minneapolis -- reported lower earnings. $(D5.$) New York Magazine Names Editor K-III Communications named Caroline Miller, the editor in chief of Seventeen magazine, as editor of New York magazine. $(D7.$) Investors Debate Worth of Marvel The announcement by Marvel Entertainment, which owns the rights to characters including Captain America, that its earnings fell, sparked a flurry of speculative trading. At the heart of the matter was the constant question on Wall Street every time one of the debt-laden companies controlled by Ronald O. Perelman starts to stagger: Will he pay up? Market Place. $(D8.$) Mayor Steps Up Cable Feud The Giuliani administration intensified its confrontation with Time Warner, announcing that because the cable company refused to carry Rupert Murdoch's new 24-hour news channel, the city would put the channel on one of its public-access cable stations. $(B1.$)

Fifth article in series, Barely Four Walls, on New York City's hidden housing crisis; in poorest neighborhoods, uneasy contract between landlord and tenant, traditional adversaries, is strained to breaking point as both are yoked together at bottom of housing market in buildings that few want to inhabit or own; thousands of poor tenants spend half of small incomes and more for shelter that is substandard, dangerous or illegal; many landlords find it increasingly difficult to provide decent homes and still make profit, in pursuit of which they often take different routes; some fit classic slumlord mold, collecting rent without providing basic services; others rent illegal spaces to people who cannot afford legal quarters, while others find business so difficult they simply abandon buildings, leaving tenants to fend for themselves; while even best of low-income landlords struggle to preserve thin profit margins, government is fading from scene; waiting lists for space in public housing projects can be years long, city has stopped seizing buildings from tax-delinquent landlords--partly because its maintenance record often rivals those of worst slumlords-- and budget cuts have gutted code enforcement efforts, emboldening more wilfully negligent owners; photos; charts (L)

Analysis of Vice Presidential debate between Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Republican challenger Jack Kemp; both men confront tax issue head-on in debate, laying cases pro and con before electorate in some detail and giving topic extensive exposure seldom seen in image-driven, sound-bite campaigns of recent years (M)

Museum of Modern Art and other museums with design collections worry about disintegration of collections, which have been expanded to include unknown quantities like spacesuits and silicon chips; some common materials that designers use--including many plastics, rubber and certain paints--are so unstable and subject to uncharted chemical reactions that no one knows how to protect them; photos (M)

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration intensifies its confrontation with Time Warner by announcing that because company's cable systems refuse to carry 24-hour Fox News Channel, city will put channel on one of its five municipal-run cable stations; photo (M)