Sales Fell

Swept up in an industry-wide malaise, Hechinger Co., the Landover-based home improvement chain, reported yesterday a seventh consecutive month of declining sales.October sales fell 13 percent to $170.3 million, compared with $195.3 million during the same period last year. Sales in stores open at least a year, a key indicator of performance because it factors out new stores, dropped 12 percent."The issues in the home center industry are pretty well known at this point," said Hechinger Vice President Richard S. Gross.

Spending on clothes, furniture, and home appliances was hot in Howard County this spring, but the county's housing market got the cold shoulder, a report released yesterday says."

DETROIT -- June car and truck sales showed the power of incentives: vehicles with them generally sold well, while those with none remained for the most part on dealer lots.While figures released yesterday showed that industry sales slipped one-tenth of 1 percent in June from the corresponding month a year earlier, gains like Chrysler's 11.7 percent increase were bolstered by heavy incentives.Indeed, automakers and dealers combined spent an average of $2,700 a vehicle to promote sales, including cash rebates to customers and incentives for dealer sales forces, according to CNW Marketing/Research in Bandon, Ore. That amount was more than double the year-ago level and the highest since January 1992.

GM, Chrysler sales fell in MayGeneral Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. said yesterday that their U.S. vehicle sales slumped in May from a year ago, while buyers snapped up Japan's Lexus and Infiniti luxury models as trade sanctions loomed.Industry leader GM's total U.S. vehicle sales in May declined 5.4 percent, measured by sales per day. Chrysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker, said its sales fell 3.0 percent. Ford Motor Co. is expected to report results next week.Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the Lexus; Nissan Motor Co., which produces the Infiniti; and Mercedes-Benz all reported U.S. sales gains despite the strength of the Japanese and German currencies against the dollar.

Sharply rising interest rates and weak consumer confidence drove new home sales in 1994 to their lowest point in four years, Legg Mason Realty Group Inc. said yesterday in its quarterly survey of Baltimore-area homebuilders.Sales of new, single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums fell 14 percent, from 10,412 in 1993 to 8,998 last year, the realty group said. Sales had been climbing steadily each year since 1990, when 8,232 homes were sold.Baltimore shared the downturn with neighboring regions, as new home sales from Philadelphia to Northern Virginia slid 8 percent.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell yesterday as a retreat in Philip Morris Cos. and disappointing December sales at some of the nation's fastest-growing retailers offset a rebound in semiconductor shares.A two-day decline in household products and beverage shares, caused by concern that a weak Mexican peso will hurt profits, also drove the stock market lower.The Dow Jones industrial average, which seesawed in a 17-point range yesterday, closed down 6.73, at 3,850.92. Philip Morris and Du Pont Co. together accounted for almost seven points of the drop.

Home sales in metropolitan Baltimore took a predictable turn in August, declining after a period in which the number of contract signings had dropped off sharply.A 3 percent decrease in settlements for the month signaled a slowdown in a housing market that until recently had made steady gains this year, the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors said yesterday.Sales fell from 1,912 in August 1993 to 1,853 last month as buyers pulled back in the face of rising interest rates.A decline in actual sales had been foreshadowed by contract signings, which began to taper off in April and May, then plunged 13 percent in June and 18 percent in July.

Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. improved its sales results slightly again last month, but analysts said the figures were still very disappointing and didn't indicate a significant turn in the struggling retailer's fortunes.The poor results weren't unexpected. As in previous months, July sales were hurt by a supply drought earlier in the year that caused the amount of spring and summer merchandise in Merry-Go-Round's stores to be far less than normal.Sales will be watched much more closely for August and beyond, because Merry-Go-Round has said it has re-established supply lines and expects inventories to move closer to normal levels for the back-to-school and fall seasons.

The Maryland Retail Merchants Association released figures yesterday that confirmed what merchants already knew about 1991: Business stank.According to figures compiled by the Census Bureau, Maryland's total retail sales in 1991 were down 1.43 percent from those of 1990. Nationwide retail sales gained 0.94 percent.Maryland's drop was steeper than those of its largest neighbors, Virginia and Pennsylvania, which posted 0.87 percent and 1.33 percent declines, respectively.Tom Saquella, president of the association, said 1991 may have been the worst year for Maryland retailers in recent memory.

New home sales in metropolitan Baltimore fell 21 percent during the third quarter, compared with the April-to-June period, but were 19 percent better than they were during the third quarter of 1990, according to a new report by Legg Mason Realty Group Inc.The Legg Mason executive who prepared the report said that the drop reflected continuing economic weakness but that most of the dip was caused by the fact that summer sales have been on average about 16...