BAKER REPEATS HE HOPES PRIME HIKE TEMPORARY Treasury Secretary James Baker reiterated his hope that this week's rise in prime rates would be a temporary blip upwards. "I would hope that it would simply be a temporary blip upward as we've seen in the past," Baker said in television interview with the Cable News Network. The interview airs tomorrow but CNN released extracts from his remarks today. Baker also repeated his position that the reaction of financial markets to U.S. tariffs on Japanese electronic goods showed "the importance of the United States not going protectionist. The markets were telling us...be careful."