SNARK MISSILE OUTPUT will be boosted by Air Force. Northrop Aircraft's $73 million production contract will be raised to $143 million, enough for 35 to 40 of the 5,000-mile-range guided missiles, plus equipment for ground-support stations now starting to go up (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).

POLAROID CORP. is perfecting color film that develops in one minute inside its Polaroid Land camera. Though rumors of such a film sent stock scooting from 32 1/8 to high of 53 1/4 in past month, company will not be ready to put film on market for year or more.

COPPER CUTBACKS are planned by Kennecott Copper Corp., No. 1 U.S. producer, to boost prices that have slumped to 27-c-Ib. from 54 1/4 last year. Kennecott will trim domestic output 12%, or 3,800 tons a month, by slowing operations in Utah, New Mexico, Nevada. Move follows 3,500 tons a month cutback by Phelps Dodge Corp., 3,000 tons a month by Anaconda Co.

AIRLINE "NO-SHOWS" are down 49% since lines last September began slapping $3 fine on passengers who reserve seats but miss flights.

BEEF PRICES will go up next year because supplies will head down. In Texas, beef on the hoof is selling for 14 3/4-c- a Ib. v. 9 1/3 1/2-c-a year ago; cattle raisers are holding cows off market to replenish their drought-thinned herds, but it will take them several years to do so. Result: beef output will slip from 83 Ibs. per capita this year to 81 Ibs. in 1958, only 77 Ibs. in 1959.

DIVIDEND PAYMENTS last month rose 3 1/2% over same time last year to $325 million. Commerce Department says that biggest gains were made in chemicals, transportation equipment, utilities, iron and steel. For first eleven months of 1957, dividend payments by publicly reporting firms reached $9.36 billion v. $9.04 billion last year.

PENN-TEXAS CORP. will slice its sales volume almost 50% by shucking subsidiaries to raise cash for its bills. Penn-Texas sold Hallicrafters Co. (which brought in $30 million yearly in sales) and Industrial Brownhoist Corp. (sales: $14 million). Now Penn-Texas' President Leopold Silberstein is dickering to sell its 51% interest in Tex-Penn Oil & Gas Corp., Liberty Aircraft Products Co. and Quick-Way Truck Shovel Co.

HUGE GAS POOL will be tapped in Utah and Arizona and piped to West Coast, where natural gas demand is racing ahead of supply. If FPC approves as expected, El Paso Natural Gas Co. will sink 1,000 wells in rich twelve-mile-square area of Utah's San

Juan Basin, build a pipeline and processing plant to deliver 115 million cu. ft. of gas daily to California-bound lines. Cost of project: $26 million.

MONETARY CRISIS in Philippines will pinch Americans doing business there. To stop drain on dollar reserves, now at alltime low of $145 million, Philippine government has told U.S. subsidiaries that they may not send their dollar profits back home. And to check big imports, Manila now demands that local businessmen deposit 50% to 200% of value of their imports in advance.

MORTGAGE MONEY will be easier next spring, builders say, since investors are starting to switch from bonds --whose interest rates are falling--to mortgages that bring steady 5% to 6%. Signs of slipping interest rates: Government's short-term borrowing costs are below 3% for first time since May, and a high-grade utility security has been sold for less than 4% for first time this year.

FLORIDA EMBARGO will halt shipments of citrus fruit for week because worst freeze in 23 years damaged crop. Growers ordered embargo during year's peak Christmas shipping season for fear that they would lose customers if frozen fruit were sold. Move will squeeze supplies, lift prices over next few weeks.

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