BUSINESS MEMO: FORD MOTOR EARNINGS

Ford Motor Co. has reported that its third-quarter earnings climbed 64 percent from a year ago as strong car and truck sales in the United States helped it beat Wall Street expectations.

The nation's second biggest automaker earned $1.12 billion, or 93 cents a share, in the July-September period, up from $686 million, or 57 cents a share, a year ago. Sales for the quarter were $36.1 billion, compared with $34 billion a year ago.

Nine-month earnings were also a company record. Ford earned $5.1 billion, or $4.26 a share, for the first nine months of 1997, compared with $3.2 billion, or $2.71 a share, a year ago. For the first nine months of the year, revenues were $112.6 billion, compared with $108.2 billion a year ago.

Ford was the third of the Big Three automakers to report its earnings for the third quarter, and the only one to report improvement. General Motors Corp. reported that third quarter earnings fell 16 percent from the same quarter in 1996. Chrysler Corp. said that its third-quarter earnings fell 35 percent from a year ago.