21.   Although provision figures were not available for the first quarter, the bank commented on several significant credit problems.

22.   Amoco shut some of its major refineries for maintenance in the first quarter.

23.   Although Phoenix was the best team in the league for the first quarter of the season, it has had less success in recent games.

24.   AMD will say only that Sharptooth will be out in the first quarter of this year.

25.   Although the Knicks closed the gap, they expended a lot of energy just to make up for their abysmal first quarter.

26.   AMD posted disappointing but positive earnings in the first quarter, and analysts expected it to show red ink in the second.

27.   American Express said the typical business fare during the first quarter of this year was almost four times the lowest discount fare.

28.   Ameritech said it will likely reapply before the first quarter of the year.

29.   Among those warning of potential trouble in the first quarter were IBM, Intel, Microsoft, J.P. Morgan and Citicorp.