AUTOS

New Vehicle Sales Maintain Momentum: Sales of domestically made cars and trucks extended their strong momentum with a 15% increase in May. Results showed that the U.S. Big Three auto makers, paced by Chrysler Corp., recorded the biggest gains, rising 16.7%, compared to 13.2% for Japanese auto makers. Sales in the last 10 days of May rose 13.5% with car sales up 14.1% and light trucks up 12.7%. GM car sales were up 5.9%, and truck sales jumped 18.3%. Ford’s cars were up 12.8% and trucks were up 26.9%. Chrysler, however, had the biggest percentage gains among the Big Three. Its car sales were up 43%--the best sales month since October, 1990--and trucks were up 21.5%.