DIGEST
DuPont, the biggest U.S. chemical company, said it expects to announce a pharmaceutical alliance this year and plans to issue stock to track the performance of its life-sciences businesses. DuPont, still a relatively small player in drugs, said it's in discussions with unspecified companies to help bulk up its pharmaceuticals business and help the company reach "critical mass" in the industry. The creation of two classes of common shares will allow investors to separate DuPont's life sciences, which are considered to be growing faster than its traditional chemical business.</br></br>Journalists should shun the role of "Chicken Little" in reporting year 2000 computer problems and avoid undermining Americans' confidence in the banking system, a senior regulator said. "If glitches occur or problems loom, report fully on them, of course, but make sure to place the problem in an appropriate context," Federal Reserve Board member Edward W. Kelley Jr. said during a panel discussion at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center. "Balance and perspective are key." Kelley said the Federal Reserve was conducting "extensive advance planning" to ensure that banks and savings institutions have cash on hand to meet any surge in demand late in the year from Americans nervous about losing access to their money if computers misread the year "00."</br></br>The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill that would restore network TV signals to about 750,000 satellite-dish customers who lost the signals two weeks ago because of a court order. The measure, introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would place a moratorium on cuts until the end of the year, aiding more than 2 million dish owners who have lost signals or are scheduled to lose them. The broadcast industry opposes the bill.</br></br>General Motors agreed to buy more than $1 billion in recycled aluminum over 13 years from Imco Recycling, to lock in supplies for lighter cars that meet new pollution standards. Imco, based in Irving, Tex., the world's largest recycler of aluminum and zinc, will build a $22 million plant in Zilwaukee, Mich., as part of the deal. As automakers strive to use more aluminum in place of steel, still the dominant metal in the industry, they are seeking supply and price guarantees.</br></br>The Today Sponge, the most popular over-the-counter contraceptive for women before it was pulled off the market in 1995, is headed back to U.S. drugstores. A newly founded New Jersey company, Allendale Pharmaceuticals, said it has bought the sponge from its previous manufacturer and hopes to begin selling it again by fall. The Food and Drug Administration said there was never any problem with the product's safety. Instead, then-manufacturer Whitehall- Robins Healthcare decided it would cost too much to upgrade the old manufacturing plant where it made the sponge to meet stringent government safety rules.