DIGEST
Bowater, the largest U.S. maker of newsprint, confirmed it is in talks to buy a stake in Halla Pulp & Paper's newsprint mill in Korea, as it seeks a low-priced investment amid economic turmoil in Asia. Halla's parent, Halla Group, was declared bankrupt by its creditors on Dec. 6 after it failed to repay $215 million of debt.</br></br>Chrysler doesn't expect to increase the price of its cars and trucks in 1998 or 1999, continuing last year's trend of little or no price hikes. "There's no opportunity for pricing in this market," Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Eaton said in an interview at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. "The only way you're going to maintain or increase your margins is through cutting costs."</br></br>Investors closed out 1997 on a strong note as inflows into equity mutual funds were robust. Stock mutual funds took in $1.4 billion in new cash for the two days ending Dec. 31. That's up from inflows of $883 million for the prior two-day period ending Dec. 29. U.S. stock funds pulled in more than $1 billion in the period, with growth mutual funds getting the lion's share of the new cash at $483 million. The riskier aggressive growth funds attracted $389 million, while the more conservative growth and income funds netted $159 million.</br></br>Spending on construction fell sharply in November but economists are predicting low interest rates will keep it from slipping much in 1998. The 0.9 percent decline to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $609 billion was the worst in 11 months, the Commerce Department said. An increase in spending on housing wasn't enough to offset a large decrease in nonresidential commercial construction and a small one in government building.</br></br>Bethlehem Steel boosted its offer for Coatesville, Pa., steelmaker Lukens by 20 percent in a takeover battle for the nation's oldest continuously operated steel firm. The $30-a-share offer, with a total value of $740 million, tops an all-cash, unsolicited bid of $28 a share made Dec. 22 by Allegheny Teledyne, a Pittsburgh conglomerate.