DIGEST
WHX, a New York-based steelmaker, renewed its campaign to acquire defense contractor Teledyne for about $1.67 billion. Teledyne spent most of 1995 rebuffing WHX's hostile bid. WHX offered to buy the company in a transaction composed of two-thirds cash and one-third stock.</br></br>General Dynamics Land Systems, a Falls Church-based builder of armored vehicles, meanwhile agreed to buy Teledyne Vehicle Systems for $55 million in cash. Land Systems said it intends to hire almost all of the 400 employees of Teledyne Vehicle Systems, a Muskegon, Mich.-based maker of combat vehicles.</br></br>The semiconductor industry's most closely-watched indicator, measuring the value of new orders against shipments, fell to a nine-year low in January, signaling a sharp drop in demand for computer chips. The Semi- conductor Industry Association said that for every $100 in shipments there were only $93 in new orders.</br></br>Orbital Sciences suffered a setback as Rockwell International withdrew from a joint venture to create a reusable rocket for small satellite launches. Fairfax-based Orbital's shares fell $1.25 on the news to close at $13.75, with 483,400 shares changing hands, more than double the daily average during the past three months. The agreement called for Rockwell and Orbital to each invest $50 million in the venture. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration would have invested $70 million.</br></br>T-bill rates fell. The discount rate on three-month Treasury bills auctioned yesterday fell to 4.80 percent from 4.88 percent last week. Rates on six-month bills fell to 4.71 percent from 4.79 percent. The actual return to investors is 4.94 percent for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,878.70, and 4.90 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,761.90. Separately, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for changing adjustable-rate mortgages, fell to 4.85 percent last week from 4.93 percent the previous week.