Slightly more companies raised their first-quarter dividends...

Slightly more companies raised their first-quarter dividends over a year ago, reflecting an increased confidence that the economy isn’t headed into a recession following the stock market crash, Standard & Poor’s Corp. reported. For the first three months of 1988, dividend increases rose 4.8% to 482 from 460 in 1987, S&P; said. At the same time, decreased and omitted dividends fell to 47 from 58 in the quarter, it said.