BIZWATCH : MARKETS.

MARKET LOGIC: Technology shares slid again as worries about computer-industry profits intensified Thursday. Blue-chip issues fared better, but stocks continued to flounder amid the persistent worries about inflation and interest rates. Broader measures of blue chips and other large companies also finished near their opening levels, but the Nasdaq market fell sharply as investors continued to lock in profits from this spring's powerful rally in technology and more speculative shares.

MEMO HOT OIL: The highest oil prices since the Persian Gulf War helped widen the U.S. trade deficit as imports and exports climbed to record levels. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the deficit in goods and services rose 7.7 percent in April to $8.63 billion, after a March imbalance of $8.01 billion.

FINES SOUGHT: A prosecutor asked for fines that could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars against Joseph Jett, the former Kidder Peabody & Co. bond trader accused of a massive scheme to falsify profits. Jonathan Gottlieb, a Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer, said in closing arguments Thursday at the end of Jett's civil hearing that the former star trader deserved the maximum for masterminding a coverup to create $350 million in phony profits and earn millions in bonuses over two years.

MOVING UP: Texas Instruments Inc. said Thursday that it has tapped two senior executives to head the huge electronics and defense firm, nearly a month after the sudden death of its chief executive officer. Thomas Engibous was named president and CEO, replacing William ``Pat'' Weber, who was designated to fill the job while the board of directors considered Jerry R. Junkins' successor. James Adams, who has been a TI director for more than seven years and a former group president of SBC Communications, follows Junkins as the company's chairman.

VALUJET PLANS: If ValuJet manages to return to the skies it will do so at first with just 15 planes, less than one-third the fleet it was using when Flight 592 plunged into the Everglades. The consent order shutting down the low-price airline set that limit for a resumption of flights - and assessed the airline $2 million - while disclosing a litany of maintenance slipups. Examples: A plane struck by lightning was used on nine more flights with just temporary repairs; crews of another plane complained about problems with its weather radar 31 times without getting effective repairs.

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK: Fairchild, a historic name in the computer chip industry, is coming back. National Semiconductor Corp. will spin off its memory and logic chip operations into an independent company called Fairchild Semiconductor. It took the first step Thursday by putting the operations into a new division and hiring investment bankers to help with the spinoff. The operations are less profitable and have less growth potential than National's other businesses.

FOOD FIGHT: Crying cultural and culinary heresy, Parisians launched a food fight Thursday to keep McDonald's from opening a restaurant in a building where Picasso bought his paints. McDonald's franchises are already all over the French capital, even on the Champs-Elysees. Now opponents are drawing a line in the cobblestones and declaring the city's historic Montparnasse district off-limits. McDonald's wants to put a restaurant in a 150-year-old building on leafy Vavin-Brea Square in what is known as Old Montparnasse - a neighborhood better known for sidewalk cafes and traditional French restaurants with lace curtains.Organizers said more than 16,000 people signed a petition asking city officials to block the burger joint.

CAPTION(S):

2 Charts

Chart: (1--Color) DOW INDUSTRIALS

(2--Color) BIZ FACTS

W HO BUYS TREASURY BONDS?

Net foreign purchase of U.S. securities, 1995

Knight-Ridder Tribune Graphics Network