51.   JAPANESE industrial production likely fell in October from September as manufacturers scaled back output in an effort to reduce inventories built up this summer, economists said.

52.   Kenneth Cole said it took a large number of markdowns to reduce inventory, mainly in its lower-priced Unlisted bags, because of slow retail sales.

53.   Last year Compaq announced it was moving to a build-to-order business model but retaining the dealer channel, and that it would reduce its inventory.

54.   Makers of everything from automobiles to steel struggled to reduce bulging inventories of goods as both exports and domestic sales fell off, the report said.

55.   Manufacturers are cutting production to reduce inventories.

56.   McCammon said Ford was using rebates to help its dealers reduce inventories, since higher interest rates had raised the cost of carrying large stocks.

57.   More businesses are converting warehouses to other uses and reducing their inventories, relying on express transportation to replace them.

58.   Most analysts say earnings are tumbling because of a decision to cut output to reduce dealer inventories of construction equipment.

59.   Ms. Walin said most retailers managed to reduce bloated inventories during the last week of December, which will take some pressure off them in the coming months.

60.   Novell said the revenue drop reflected drastically reduced shipments to dealers and distributors as it tried to reduce excess inventory among resellers.