BRIEFCASE SUPERIOR TO MAKE GM ENGINE PARTS.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

VAN NUYS - Superior Industries International Inc. will crank up its production for General Motors. The aluminum specialists announced Thursday that they will manufacture and ship lower crankcase bed plates for GM's 4-cylinder engine platform.

The component will be installed in the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Grand Am and Sunfire, as well as Saturn's Vue, Ion and L Series. Superior will crank them out in its Heber Springs, Ark., plant.

Diodes Inc. stock hits one-year high

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - Semiconductor maker Diodes Incorporated saw its stock hit a 52-week high Thursday as it released positive guidance for its fourth quarter. Stock closed at $12.19, up 89 cents, after the firm announced that it expects improvement from its third quarter results, to be released on Feb. 4.

Last quarter, it earned $1.8 million, with earnings per share of 20 cents.

State will begin Oracle probe soon

SACRAMENTO - A grand jury will begin taking testimony Tuesday about the state's now-rescinded computer software contract with the Oracle Corp., and a key lawmaker is predicting the probe will result in criminal charges.

``I would expect indictments to be handed out by summer,'' state Sen. Dean Florez, a Shafter Democrat who chaired a legislative inquiry into the contract last year, said Thursday. ``If the grand jury is going to look seriously into this, I would expect there would be some this year.''

The contract, a six-year, $95 million deal with an option for a four-year extension, was supposed to save the state more than $100 million through volume purchases and maintenance of database software.

But the state auditor said the contract, put together in about three weeks, could cost the state as little as $6 million or as much as $41 million more than if it had stuck to its previous software supply arrangements.

Allstate banned from DMV records

SACRAMENTO - Following a yearlong investigation into allegations of widespread privacy violations, the California Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday blocked Allstate Insurance from electronic access to the state's confidential driver and vehicle records.

State officials said employees of the Illinois-based insurance company continuously and improperly looked up driver's license and vehicle registration records, including those of themselves, friends, relatives and others.

In a statement, Allstate said it ``regrets'' its procedures were ``not followed in some of our California claims offices. These breaches of our internal policies are unacceptable and the company has taken decisive action to ensure they do not reoccur.''

Mortgage rates move up slightly

WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year and 15-year mortgages edged up this week, but are still sufficiently low to keep home sales humming, economists said.

The average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.97 percent for the week ending Jan. 17, up from 5.95 percent the week before, Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey of rates.

Rates on 30-year mortgages started the new year by dropping to a new low of 5.85 percent, for the week ending Jan. 3. That rate was the lowest since the mortgage giant began tracking 30-year mortgage rates in 1971. Records that reach back earlier than Freddie Mac's put last week's 30-year mortgage rate at the lowest level since the early 1960s.

For 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates also went up this week to 5.36 percent, compared with 5.33 percent in the prior week.

But rates on one-year adjustable rate mortgages stood at 4.03 percent, unchanged from last week.