BIZWATCH : MARKETS.

MARKET LOGIC: Technology stocks plunged further, dragging down the broader market as money managers worked to lock in profits and embellish their portfolios for the end of the quarter. The Dow Jones Industrials had hung near their opening levels during the morning before succumbing to the worsening mood in the technology-heavy Nasdaq market.

MEMO EXECUTIVE FIRED: The chief executive of the pharmaceutical company Astra USA was fired after being accused of replacing older women with young beauties, pressuring female employees to have sex and embezzling $2 million. Astra AB of Sweden, Astra USA's parent, announced Wednesday that it had ousted Lars Bildman, head of U.S. operations, after investigators confirmed misconduct and found evidence of embezzlement.

CEREAL WARS: Breakfast is getting cheaper by the day. The Quaker Oats Co. became the fourth and last of the nation's largest cereal makers to reduce prices on its products, trimming prices Wednesday an average of 15 percent on most of its boxed cereals, including popular brands Cap'n Crunch and Life. Prices of Quaker's line of bagged cereals remain unchanged.

MERGER TWIST: Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. are changing the terms of their merger to eliminate the need for an act of Congress to complete the biggest corporate combination in telephone history. The companies originally planned to combine their assets into a new company, but the new plan they disclosed means Bell Atlantic will buy Nynex, issuing stock to pay for it. The move allows the companies to sidestep some regulatory reviews, notably one in Congress that might not occur until next year. It does not halt reviews done by federal communications and antitrust regulators.

CYBER STOCK: The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a California company's plan to create an electronic bulletin board to help investors buy or sell its common stock. Real Goods Trading Corp., a Ukiah, California, company that sells alternative energy and conservation products, thus becomes the first corporation to win SEC backing to establish an Internet bulletin board for its own shares.

MEDICAL LIABILITY: The Supreme Court ruled that makers of medical devices can be sued in state courts over alleged defects in their products, handing a setback to defendant Medtronic Inc. Even if medical device companies comply with federal laws and regulations, they can still face product-liability lawsuits under state laws, the justices said. The court voted 5-4 to revive all claims by a Florida woman who says she was almost killed by a defect in her heart pacemaker.

BIG PARTNERS: In the first partnership between the king of video games and the colossus of software, Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp. said they would deliver information and entertainment, mainly from the Internet, to personal computers via satellite broadcasting. Although this particular venture will offer its service only in Japan, Microsoft said the same technology might have application elsewhere as a way of allowing people to obtain data from the Internet without the long delays and high charges now often incurred in exploring the net using telephone lines.

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Chart: (1--Color) DOW INDUSTRIALS

(2--Color) BIZ FACTS

L ATIN TRADERS

Trade balances for selected Central and South American countries, in billions of dollars, 1995