Saturday September 2 7:14 a.m. EDT

Business Summary

• Wall St. Issues End Week Higher - Stocks on Wall Street ended the week slightly higher, with big mergers in banking and media industries keeping the summer doldrums at bay. If the so-called dog days of summer were a factor anywhere, it was in the technology sector, which was flat at best, prompting one analyst to project a shift in market emphasis. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 4,648 Friday, up about 47 points for the week. The Nasdaq composite index traded at 1,019, unchanged.

• Temps Answer to Welfare? - Getting training and jobs for welfare mothers has met with some success in two private-sector programs, each one designed to help end the women's dependence on relief. In Portland, Ore., and Utica, N.Y., employers hired the welfare mothers in temporary positions and have had success training them to fill job openings. The owner of a Utica agency that supplied trainees to local employers says the biggest problem in selling the program was that the employers didn't think it was this simple. Doug Manning of Western Staffing Services says there was no basic contract and no paperwork for the employer.

• The Doctor Is In - A Burlington Mass., firm has introduced the latest edition of ``Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit,'' designed to detect and remove more than 6,700 viruses on desktop, notebook and network computers. S&S Software International said its virus research team identifies 150 to 200 new viruses each month. Dr. Solomon's ``advanced heuristic analysis'' detects, decrypts and eradicates the unknown viruses, it said. For more information, call the company at 617-273-7400. Its Internet address is htpp://www.sands.com.

• 'Start Me Up' or 'Rescue Me?' - For Cyberspace residents struggling with Windows 95, help can be found online. Commercial computer networks such as America Online have established special areas for Windows 95 users. America Online's Inside Windows 95 area (Keyword: Win95) starts with news on Windows 95 culled from magazines and newspapers. Inside Windows also includes libraries of Windows 95 shareware and discussion groups where one can ask questions about setup, drivers, accessories, Internet connections, games and more.

• Happy Birthday, Coupons - Coupons are celebrating their 100th birthday this year. Early on, a soda fountain owner began distributing hand-written tickets offering customers free glasses of Coca Cola. In 1995, more than 3,000 manufacturers offer coupons valued at $4.8 billion a year. The Promotion Marketing Association of America says shoppers can save 10 percent of their weekly grocery bill by spending 20 minutes clipping and organizing coupons.

• Financial Planner: Sell - Florida financial planner Linda Lubitz, who's seen the valley of losing money on stock, now tells clients to sell their company shares as soon as they legally own them. Lubitz argues that stock ownership of the company you work for is a bad idea because it is as far from diversification as you can get. You not only have your investment eggs in one basket; your career future is in the same basket, too.

• Succession Plan - According to a survey released this week by the Arthur Andersen consulting firm, one in four of the chief executives of family-owned businesses plan to retire or semi-retire in the next five years, but only 40 percent of them have yet to designate a successor. The vast majority of the nearly 3,900 businesses surveyed involved those where the founders wanted the business to stay in the family.

• Matchbooks Hot Collectibles? - Matchbooks are a dying phenomenon as smoking becomes more and more a civil-rights issue. So don't be surprised if one day they turn into prized relics that collectors will pay lots for. A matchbook advertising the Mendelson Opera Co. in 1896 -- reputedly the first ever produced -- is insured for $25,000 by its owner. One copy survives. Matchbooks dropped over the Philippines in 1944, with a picture of Gen. Douglas MacArthur saying, ``I will return,'' fetch about $160.

• Travel Plans - Airports remain one of the major fields of hazard for unsuspecting travelers. One survey conducted several years ago found that more than one in three travelers reported they'd suffered airport theft, which by one estimate costs its victims $400 million annually.

• Dial-Up Resources - A trade magazine's effort to increase circulation is turning mutual fund shopping into an easy task, thanks to a new, free service available on the Internet computer network's World Wide Web. Mutual Funds Online provides what is touted as the most extensive dial-up resource for fund investors anywhere in the world. MFO's Web site is http://www.mfmag.com/abf.