Business and Finance
PHILIP MORRIS IS CUTTING the price of Marlboro cigarettes by up to 20% and plans to forgo increases on other major brands while expanding distribution of discount brands. The moves, reflecting a decline in brand loyalty, could slash the company's tobacco profit by 40%. Its stock plummeted $14.75, or 23%, to $49.375. Other tobacco stocks also tumbled.</br></br>Stocks plunged, triggered by sliding tobacco shares and a weak employment report, while bond prices sank. The Dow Jones industrials fell 68.63 points, or 2%, to 3370.81. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond's price lost more than a point, sending the yield over 7% to finish at 7.06%.</br></br>Stock mutual funds posted gains averaging 3.29% for the first quarter, trailing the S&P 500 index's 4.36% total return. Bond funds gained 3.96%.</br></br>---</br></br>Payrolls shrank last month while unemployment held steady at 7%, in another sign that economic growth has slowed considerably. Clinton aides said the data demonstrated the need for a stimulus package. Hourly earnings, meanwhile, climbed 0.5%.