BIZWATCH : MARKETS.

MARKET LOGIC: Stocks slid again Monday, eroding hopes that last week's turbulent sell-off and sharp turnaround represented a bottom in the market's first significant pullback in more than five years. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 35.88 to 5,390.94, recovering from two deficits of more than 50 points that twice triggered the New York Stock Exchange's curbs on computer-driven trading.

MEMO BILLS DOWN: Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities fell in Monday's auction to the lowest level in three weeks. The Treasury Department sold $13.6 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.14 percent, down from 5.19 percent last week. Another $13.6 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average rate of 5.30 percent, down from 5.36 percent.

BANK PROFITS: American Pacific State Bank, Sherman Oaks-based, reported a 20 percent increase in second-quarter earnings. The bank reported $525,000 in net profits for the period ending June 30, compared with $436,000 a year ago. Assets, meanwhile, reached $287 million, remained flat compared with the year earlier.

EXPRESS EARNINGS: American Express Co. reported that profits rose 10 percent in the second quarter, as its charge-card unit and financial advisory business both turned in improved results. The company's earnings rose to $452 million, or 93 cents a share, from $410 million, or 81 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

FEDERAL SURPLUS: The federal government posted a $34.1 billion surplus in June, helping to reduce the fiscal 1996 deficit so far by 40 percent below a year ago and setting course for a fourth straight annual decline. The Treasury Department said the gap between revenues and expenditures totaled $75 billion since the fiscal year began last Oct. 1, compared with $123.7 billion during the first nine months of fiscal 1995. But even with the size of the annual deficits going down, each year's red ink adds to the total national debt, the sum of all the deficits since the country was founded. That debt currently stands at $5.08 trillion.

BUILDING ON PAST: Ground was broken for a Pep Boys auto parts store to be built on a lot at the flash point of the 1992 riots. The store is expected to create about 20 jobs for area residents, many of whom have graduated from the Los Angeles Urban League's auto training center, said Calvin Naito, a spokesman for Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. Dale Schroeder, Pep Boys' regional vice president, said the store is set to open in late October. The lot on the northwest corner of Florence and Normandie avenues has been vacant since a riot-sparked fire destroyed the gas station that was there.

COMPUTING CLONES: Power Computing Corp., the first maker of Apple Macintosh clones, has begun selling a model with the fastest microprocessor available. Two other major PC makers also rolled out new products Monday. NEC Technologies Inc. has new systems for consumers and Compaq Computer Corp. for businesses. The machines from Power Computing are run by a new PowerPC 604e microprocessor. The chip has clock speeds of up to 225 MHz, faster than the top 200 MHz speed of Intel Corp.'s Pentium chip.

CONSUMER COMPLAINTS: Consumers will be able to call a toll-free service later this year to learn whether there are pending customer complaints against stock brokers, a regulator for an industry group said. The development, announced by NASD Regulation Inc. president Mary Schapiro, marks a significant change in current policy. The National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. now only publicly releases completed disciplinary cases - not pending complaints - against brokers and firms through a toll-free telephone line.

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