OTHER NEWS - Jan. 26, 1996

Business Failures Dip in ‘95: The number of U.S. businesses that failed last year declined by less than 1% to about 71,200, Dun & Bradstreet Corp. reported. The liabilities of those businesses, however, increased by 29%, indicating that the failures had a greater impact on the economy. Liabilities of the failed businesses totaled $37.5 billion, compared with $29 billion for the 71,500 failures in 1994. D&B; said most industries showed at least slightly higher failure levels. Improvement was greatest in the mining industry, where failures declined 17%. Business failures were mixed by region, but nearly every region saw a higher level of liabilities, Wilton, Conn.-based D&B; said. The firm defined a business failure as a company that has either gone out of business or has sought bankruptcy protection.