Business Notes Indicators

When the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley slows down, everybody, from realtors in Cupertino to restaurant owners along Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose, gets a bad case of the blues. But one of the best barometers of the health of California's computer manufacturers is Doug Young. He manages the Porsche dealership in Sunnyvale, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Sales at his showroom, where the most expensive models go for $50,000, are so sensitive to the region's economic trends that a few days of good news will generate a mini Porsche rally. On the other hand, downtime in the local semiconductor and computer industries leaves Young's salesmen spit-shining fenders.

Right now, times are bad. Sales are slow, and the hardest hit model is the top-of-the-line 928. Young is doing the once unthinkable: cutting prices. Yet he knows that many of his would-be customers harbor hopes of becoming the latest in a string of entrepreneurs who have made millions by inventing a better microchip. Nobody wants to believe that the fabled region's heydays are gone forever. Says Young: "If the headlines are good for three or four days running and people are feeling optimistic, business picks right up. It's good for at least a few cars."