Inland Steel Industries Inc.: The Chicago steel...

Inland Steel Industries Inc.: The Chicago steel maker recorded a fourth-quarter loss of $57.1 million, pushing it $20.6 million into the red for fiscal 1990. Sales for the quarter were off 5%, to $907 million. For the year, sales totaled $3.8 billion, down 7%. The company blamed its first full-year loss since 1985 on weak demand and higher-than-expected start-up costs for a joint venture with Japan’s Nippon Steel. The fourth-quarter loss contrasted with a profit of $6.7 million in the year-ago period. Inland Steel earned $119.7 million in fiscal 1989.