BRIEFCASE AREA'S GAS PRICES CONTINUE TO DROP.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

For the 11th consecutive week, the price of gasoline declined throughout Southern California, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday.

Currently, the average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in the Los Angeles area is $1.18 per gallon. This is 5 cents lower than the price Thanksgiving Day and nearly 86 cents below the record high set seven months ago.

Enron keeps quiet amid implosion 

HOUSTON - Former energy trading giant Enron Corp. continued to play a waiting game Friday, refraining from public comment even as the market readied for what could be the largest corporate bankruptcy filing in history.

Enron's 20,000-plus employees worldwide, including more than 6,000 in Houston, were also awaiting word on whether they would still have jobs next week; Enron laid off 1,100 in Britain on Friday.

Some in Houston had already cleaned out their desks, anticipating layoffs after getting paid Friday. They also reflected on a whirlwind downfall that gripped the once-heralded company two days after its would-be savior, Dynegy Inc., walked away from a $8.4 billion bailout.

The bleeding continued Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, where shares trickled down an additional 10 cents, or 28 percent, to 26 cents in heavy trading. Last December, shares were trading near $85 per share.

Rothmans raises tobacco firm bid

TORONTO - Rothmans Inc. said Friday that it had boosted its takeover offer for the small U.S. cigarette maker Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., which previously indicated support for a competing bid from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.

Rothmans, a Toronto-based tobacco company, said its revised bid of cash, stock and other securities is worth about $353.7 million, up from its initial offer worth about $275 million.

It boosted the cash portion of its bid by $57 million, to $162 million, and said the appreciation in its stock price had boosted the value of the stock being offered for privately held Santa Fe Natural, which is based in Santa Fe, N.M.

On Nov. 22, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco said it had agreed to acquire Santa Fe Natural for $320 million in cash. Santa Fe managers gave Rothmans time to raise its bid, however.

Liberty lifts dollar, Greenspan says

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday that the dollar's strength against the new European currency, the euro, stems from America's better performance in boosting work-force productivity.

While cautioning that it is always difficult to forecast directions in currency rates, Greenspan said it was evident that the dollar's surprising strength against the euro owed a great deal to a more flexible U.S. workplace.

Greenspan said this difference in workplace flexibility was especially important in new fields such as the high-tech world because startup firms have a critical need to find innovative ways to cut costs.

If a country's laws prohibit the easy hiring and firing of workers, that will limit the number of entrepreneurs willing to invest in new technologies, he said.

Home Depot boss revises strategy

ATLANTA - After 23 years of consistent growth, The Home Depot hopes to plot a more focused course for making each store more profitable by better tailoring them to specific markets and offering new services for homeowners.

The company's president and chief executive, Robert L. Nardelli, led his first conference for Wall Street analysts Friday, outlining a strategy that relies on diversifying revenue through better performance of existing stores, new residential services and increased sales to professional contractors.

The company expects to increase revenue at least 15 percent annually over the next two years, with earnings increases of 18 percent to 20 percent through 2005.