ALSO. . .

* The Commerce Department has initiated an investigation into whether steel companies in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan have been selling steel in the U.S. below fair market prices. The independent International Trade Commission last month began a preliminary investigation of complaints filed by several major U.S. steelmakers.

* The chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, William B. Gould IV, said he will resign before his term ends in late August. Gould, who was appointed to the post in 1994, said he would return to his professorship at Stanford Law School.

* Honeywell Inc., a maker of thermostats and aircraft guidance and control systems, bought Daimler-Benz’s airport systems business for an undisclosed price to expand its airport product line overseas.

* Harley-Davidson Inc. said it will begin assembling motorcycles in Brazil next year. The largest U.S. manufacturer of motorcycles said it will open an assembly operation in Manaus in 1999 that will use parts imported from the U.S. Because of tariffs, imported Harleys cost twice as much in Brazil as the $5,000 to $18,000 they fetch in the U.S.

* UST Inc., the largest maker of moist snuff, is expected to borrow as much as $1 billion to buy back shares and boost earnings, said Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co. analyst David Adelman. Such a move could retire about 15% of UST’s stock and add 25 cents a share, or 8.6%, to earnings per share in two years.