BIZWATCH : MARKETS.

MARKET LOGIC: Stocks rebounded from an early sell-off Tuesday to end mixed as the latest economic data was strong, but not so strong as to aggravate interest rate jitters. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 32.18 to 5,648.39, bouncing back from an early 55-point slide that pulled the blue-chip barometer below 5,600 for the first time since early August.

MEMO

GET BACK CADILLAC: General Motors Corp. is recalling 587,000 Cadillacs to replace a computer chip that causes them to emit illegal levels of a pollutant. Affected are 1991-1995 Sevilles, DeVilles and Eldorados with 4.9-liter, V-8 engines. GM also has agreed to pay an $11 million fine in what the U.S. Justice Department said was the largest automobile case brought under the Clean Air Act.

MUSTANG SUIT: A nationwide settlement of a class-action suit over an alleged defect in the doors of Ford Mustang convertibles, offering owners a $400 discount on a new Ford, has been approved. Over the objections of a Ralph Nader-affiliated group, the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana said the settlement - which benefits only owners who buy a new car or light truck within a year - appeared fair and reasonable. The suit involved 1983-1986 convertibles, of which about 65,000 were being driven when the settlement was reached in 1994. No injuries were reported in connection with the apparent defect.

LOCKED UP: The Lane Co. will voluntarily replace locks on cedar chests made before 1987 because they latch automatically when the lid is closed. Six children became trapped and later suffocated while playing in the chests between 1977 and 1994, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The Altavista, Va., company made about 12 million chests with automatic latches from 1912 to 1987. Consumers can determine whether their chest has an old lock by closing the lid, without pressing a special lock button.

RESIGNATION: Carlo De Benedetti resigned as chairman of Olivetti amid big investors' concerns over the computer maker's losses. The Italian company confirmed De Benedetti's resignation in announcing a 440 billion lire loss in the first six months of 1996. A year earlier, the company lost 1.087 trillion lire, but nearly all of the loss was the result of one-time restructuring costs.

ANIMATION ACTION: MTV Networks will invest more than $420 million in original animation projects at its Nickelodeon and MTV divisions over the next five years. The Universal City-based firm plans to produce more than 850 half-hour animated episodes, and Nickelodeon's Nicktoons Animation, based in Studio City, and MTV's New York animation studio will be expanded, said MTV Networks chief Tom Freston. Also, Nickelodeon and MTV are scheduled to release animated feature films in cooperation with Paramount Pictures, including MTV's ``Beavis & Butt-head Do America,'' which is set for release in December, and Nickelodeon's ``Rugrats'' movie, produced by Hollywood-based Klasky Csupo Inc.

FERTILIZER: Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. has an agreement to buy Arcadian Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., in a deal worth up to $1.22 billion that will create one of the world's largest fertilizer companies. The combined company would have revenue estimated at $2.8 billion to $3 billion.

MISCELLANEOUS: Sun Valley-based Rico International, manufacturer of reeds and accessories to the music industry, has been purchased by Boosey and Hawkes plc of London. Terms of the purchase were not announced. . . . A federal judge has ruled in favor of Spatializer Audio Laboratories, finding that the Woodland Hills firm did not infringe on patents of QSound Labs.

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H eadaches

Average cost of a 100-table bottle of aspirin, in selected cities, 1996

Knight-Ridder Tribune Graphics Network