ls Wal-Mart Buying Lowe's?

Rumorsthat Wal-Martwants to buy Lowe's Cos. Inc., North Wilkesboro, N.C.. continued as Lowe's stock headed up, but management at both companies refused confirmation.

We don't "comment on market rumors," W. Cliff Oxford said at Lowe's.

"No such deal" was the word from a Wal-Mart spokesperson in Bentonville, Ar., headquarters.

However, Richard DiChillo, equity manager for Aetna Life Insurance and Annuity Co., whose The Aetna Variable Fund has owned Lowe's for five years, said, "I heard that rumor several months ago, but I didn't give much credence to it because I didn't think they (Lowe's) would be able to offer much to Wal-Mart."

Timber Ban Counter Productive

Baruring the use of tropical timber products in municipal construction projects is a political statement giving lip service to rain forest conservation but doing nothing to help, according to Robert Waffle, lnternational Hardwood Products Association, Alexandria, Va.

His explanation for Lowe's stock jumping $1.75 inone day with 321,600 shares traded, about double the average trading volume, was Lowe's announcement that sales for the second week in January were 54% higher than a year ago.

Clifford Glickman, a business writer, explained that Wal-Mart might be interested in Lowe's because the mass merchandiser has shown interest in expanding into new areas of retailing, such as Sam's Club warehouse retailing, and focuses on serving smaller towns, just like Lowe's.

Jack Shewmaker, Wal-Mart's presidentfrom 1978 to 1984, isamemberof Lowe's board of directors.

leading to clearcutting to promote money producing agriculture and grazing lands, Waffle maintains. Harrisburg, Pa., San Francisco, Santa Monica and Santa Clarita, Ca., Bellingham, Wa., Baltimore, Md., and New York and Arizona, which have bans on tropical timber products, are hurting sustainable forest management, Waffle concludes.

Investors Buy Cameron

An Atlanta, Ga., investment group has prnchased all assets of CameronWholesale, Waco, Tx., including nine distribution centers, from CertainTeed Corp.

The company has been renamed Wm. Cameron & Co., the name it was founded under in 1868. CertainTeed had owned the firm since 1954.

A resolution in support of wise forest management techniques is of more value in his opinion. Countries practicing sustainable forest management are penalized by bans, he points out.

When wood loses its economic value, the trees and forests become worthless,