BIZWATCH\MARKETS.

HEALTHY GAIN:Tenet Healthcare Corp. rose -5/8 to 20-3/4. The Santa Monica hospital company, which was formed from the merger of National Medical Enterprises and American Medical Holdings, said its combined second-quarter earnings were 90 cents per share, including extraordinary gains, up from 27 cents at National Medical last year.

MADE IN THE U.S.A.?: Swedish carmaker AB Volvo said Wednesday that it is considering building cars in the United States, and that manufacturing and delivery costs, rather than local incentives, would be given the most weight in the evaluation. Volvo's U.S. sales, all from imports, totaled 87,021 cars last year, up about 8 percent from 1994 measured by daily sales rate. Its share of the U.S. light vehicle market was 0.59 percent. Among European companies, it ranked third in sales behind Volkswagen/Audi and BMW.

LEE LOSES:A California judge has dismissed former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca's lawsuit against the company, ruling that the dispute over Iacocca's stock options should be heard in Michigan. Meanwhile, a judge in Oakland County scheduled a Jan. 31 hearing on an argument by Iacocca that a Chrysler lawsuit against him should be heard in California. Iacocca sued Chrysler in November, claiming that it acted unlawfully by blocking him from cashing in millions of dollars in stock options.

THE NAME GAME: Four years after it was gobbled up by AT&T Corp. for $7.5 billion and renamed AT&T Global Information Solutions, NCR Corp. got its name back Wednesday - the first step toward being cut loose from what has turned out to be a disastrous relationship. In returning to the name NCR - initials that for decades stood for National Cash Register - the Dayton, Ohio, company is signaling an intention to return to its roots as a maker of computer systems for retailers, banks and large companies.

EXECUTIVE FILE

DIMON SPARKLES: Smith Barney Inc., the country's second-largest retail brokerage firm, Wednesday installed 39-year-old James Dimon as its chairman and chief executive, abruptly displacing Robert F. Greenhill, the famed dealmaker the firm snatched away from Morgan Stanley & Co. less than three years ago. Dimon, known as a hands-on cost-cutter, oversaw Smith Barney staff reductions in recent years to boost profits.

MONEY MATTERS

BANKERS' WAGES:The heads of financial service companies were the highest paid executives in 1994, but those in the construction industry enjoyed the largest boost in compensation, a survey found. In financial services, the median - or middle - compensation was $1.47 million, the highest of the businesses surveyed, but 6.6 percent lower than in 1993. Financial services showed the highest median CEO bonus, 255 percent of base salary, while utility executives received the lowest, 38 percent.

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CHART

Chart (1--Color) BIZ FACTS Fast or fancy? Fast food and full-service restaurants capture almost equal amounts of eating-out dollars. Projected percent of total eating place sales, by type of eatery, 1996 Knight-Ridder Tribune Graphics Network (2--Color) DOW INDUSTRIALS