December 31, 2004

Article on rise in popularity of garage shows on television, especially on Discovery and Learning Channels and on Spike TV; most are not how-to shows but ones that transform ordinary-looking older cars into tricked-out, chromed-up, high-horsepower machines; photos (L)

New York Yankees will sign pitching ace Randy Johnson to two-year contract extension; trade with Arizona Diamondbacks has been six months in the works; under its terms, Yankees will send Javier Vazquez, Brad Halsey, Dioner Navarro and $8.5 million to $9 million to Arizona to acquire one of best left-handed pitchers ever; he will fill Yankees' one prominent hole; he is top-tier starter Yankees did not have against Boston Red Sox in 2004 and dominant left-hander team has missed since Andy Pettitte went to Houston after 2003 season; Johnson collaborated with Red Sox ace Curt Schilling to help Arizona beat Yankees in 2001 World Series; photo (M)

S.E.C. Seeks Information From a Unit of Berkshire Berkshire Hathaway, the company controlled by the billionaire Warren E. Buffett, said that federal regulators had requested information from its General Re insurance unit about the sale of products that can be used to smooth earnings. The company is the seventh insurer to have its practices examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. But it is the first time Berkshire's insurance unit, long seen to reflect the professional integrity advocated by Mr. Buffett, has been drawn into the inquiry. [Page C3.] Social Security Debate Set to Start President Bush and Congress are preparing for a debate over the future of Social Security, whose solvency depends not only on factors including productivity, inflation and birth rates but also on how long beneficiaries will be living. And many population experts believe that life expectancy will increase rapidly in the 21st century, making the financial problems of Social Security even worse. [A1.] Best Buy Dropping Ernst & Young Best Buy will stop using Ernst & Young as its auditor in February because of an agreement it had with a former board member who served on the retailer's audit committee.[C3.] I.B.M. PC Unit Was Not Profitable I.B.M., which is selling its personal computer business to the Lenovo Group of China, said that division has not made a profit for three and a half years. [C4.] Judge Halts Import Curbs A federal judge temporarily barred the United States from imposing some curbs on imports of textiles and clothing from China. United States quotas on the textile trade, imposed 40 years ago, are set to expire on Saturday, ending a system that limited trade in 2,400 items, including cotton shirts and denim. [C4.] Russia to Control Yukos Unit Russia's minister of industry and energy, Viktor B. Khristenko, left, said the controlling stake in a subsidiary of the oil company Yukos, Yuganskneftegaz, would be transferred to a newly created state company and would not become part of the merger between Gazprom and Rosneft. That merger would be completed next month, he said, but the subsidiary would not ''be among the consolidated assets.'' [World Business, Section W.] Report on Prozac Documents The British Medical Journal said it had sent documents to American health regulators that it said appear to suggest a link between Prozac and suicidal behavior. [C5.] Stocks Mixed in Quiet Trading Stocks were mixed in a listless session. The Dow Jones industrials fell 28.89 points, to 10,800.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.1 of a point, to 1,213.55, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.34 points, to 2,178.34. [C5.] Manufacturing Growth Slows The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said that its business barometer declined to 61.2 this month, from 65.2 in November, a sign of slower growth in manufacturing. In a separate report, the Labor Department said that the number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell unexpectedly last week. [C2.] Oracle Fires 4 PeopleSoft Officials Oracle fired PeopleSoft's co-president, Kevin T. Parker, and three other top executives, a day after assuming control of the software maker in a $10.3 billion takeover. [C5.] Hormel Buys Clougherty Packing Hormel Foods acquired Clougherty Packing for $186 million, adding Dodger Dog hot dogs sold in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to its product line. [C3.] U.S. Bond Market to Close Early The United States bond market will close at 2 p.m. today in advance of New Year's holiday. The stock markets will have regular trading hours today.

IT was a great year for Wall Street, or so the earnings numbers seem to say. New stock issues are selling again and corporate bond underwriting set a record. President Bush is pushing a Social Security plan that would divert huge sums of money into investment accounts, generating fees for Wall Street. Brokerage stocks have been market leaders in the postelection rally But the real man of the year on Wall Street -- or at least the man whose plight is emblematic of the new Wall Street reality -- will not be sharing in those bonuses. Instead, Daniel Bayly is awaiting sentencing in federal court in Houston, where he is likely to be ordered to spend a few years in prison for doing something that few on Wall Street would have seen as a crime.

To tweeze or not to tweeze. Such was the question facing Nestor Reyes, a gruff-talking bus driver from the Bronx whose most prominent facial feature was the black band of hair that wriggled across his brow like some giant caterpillar. ''Nothing wrong with a unibrow,'' he told himself. ''Looks manly.'' His girlfriend, Margie Sola, had other ideas on the matter. She thought he looked like the love child of Albert Einstein and Bert from ''Sesame Street.'' ''His face was a big mess,'' she said.