Steel Firms: USX Corp.’s profits shot up...

Steel Firms: USX Corp.’s profits shot up 88% while Bethlehem Steel Corp.’s profits fell 24%, the nation’s biggest and second-biggest steelmakers said in first-quarter reports. Pittsburgh-based USX said its net income surged to $296 million, led by a near threefold increase in operating income at Marathon Oil Co. Operating income from steel sagged 40% to $99 million on sales of $1.5 billion. Overall sales grew by 12.5% to $4.5 billion. Marathon contributed operating income of $241 million on $2.4 billion in first-quarter sales. Sales rose 5.6% to $1.4 billion. The Bethlehem, Pa.-based No. 2 steelmaker said it charged $55 million against the quarter as the cost of reorganizing its troubled Baltimore marine division. The 1988 results included a charge of $19 million over a coal mine fire and employee benefits and a $10-million credit as an investment tax credit refund.