PORK PRICES will be boosted by new Government buying program. Including current lard purchases, Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson will make $100 million available immediately to buy pork for school-lunch programs and other nonprofit uses. As result, pork prices, which had slipped below $15 per hundredweight for first time since March, spurted ahead last week to $15.50 per hundredweight.
EBBETS FIELD, longtime home of Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Club, will be turned into $25 million housing development. For an estimated $2,000,000, Dodgers have sold Ebbets Field to Manhattan Real-Estateman Marvin Kratter, associated with Financier Hanns Ditisheim who took over Chicago's Butler Bros, retail-store chain eight months ago (TIME, March 5). Kratter will lease the field to team until 1961, when he starts work on housing project.
HOUSE PRICES will rise about 4% next year, says National Association of Home Builders. Survey of 600 builders shows median price of 1957 home of $15,200 v. $14,700 this year. Reasons: higher land, building costs, demand for bigger homes, difficulty in financing less expensive homes.
CHEMICAL EXPANSION will hit record $853 million in second half of 1956, swell year's production to $1.5 billion, or 48% more than 1955. Output capacity of polyethylene plastic alone will jump next year to 900 million Ibs. annually from present 600 million Ibs.
ENGINEERS' SALARIES are rising faster than other groups in U.S. industry because of engineer shortage. American Management Association polled 31,400 engineers, technical employees, found each averaged 8.6% raise within year v. 5% for middle management, 3.5% for sales personnel, 2.7% for top management.
FIRST NUCLEAR REACTOR for commercial export has been approved by Atomic Energy Commission. Built by North American Aviation, 50-kw. reactor will go to Japan for use in research. AEC will follow with export licenses for reactors to West Germany, The Netherlands and Brazil. 20TH CENTURY-FOX, second biggest U.S. moviemaker, is moving solidly into television's camp. For $30 million, Fox has given National Telefilm Associates rights to distribute 390 of Fox's best-known pre-1948 films (Laura, The Razor's Edge, Gentleman's Agreement, etc.) over network of 112 U.S. TV stations. In addition, Fox gets 50% interest in Telefilm's film network. Deal assures Fox nationwide distribution for its properties, e.g., Mr. Belvedere, which could be converted into TV films.
HILTON HOTELS CORP., which already controls three Manhattan hotels (WaldorfAstoria, Plaza, Statler), will take over the Savoy-Plaza early next year. In stock swap, Hilton will give about $15 million worth of its securities for 1,000-room hotel.
KROY OILS, a Canadian company reportedly controlled by Great Sweet Grass Oils, which has been temporarily banned from trading over-the-counter and on the American Stock Exchange, has also been suspended by SEC from trading. SEC will hold hearings this month to see whether trading of two stocks should be suspended up to a year, or permanently.