European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 9, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes business news Buck depressed by unexciting figures on jobs currency traders spent much of last week anxiously awaiting the release of . Employment figures or september and talking excitedly about a Likely run up in the Dollar s value if the numbers Jmc in particularly Strong. When icy were released on Friday though the data proved to be somewhat disappointing. Non Fann employment in the country Rase by 255,000 jobs in september much of the increase coming from schoolteachers going Back to work after sum Mer vacationland the nation s unemployment some Cut in Europe cola justified Pentagon says by Randy Mcclaln Rale fell from 5.6 percent to 5.4 percent. Those weren t such bad numbers but foreign Exchange markets had expected a better show ing. Some analysts had published opinions ear Lier in the week predicting As Many As 300,000 new jobs would be created. That sort of performance traders said could have sparked an in crease in the Dollar s value to at least 1.b730 Marks a noticeable improvement Over the i.s625-to-i.b640 Mark Range in which the Buck had been trading a midweek in Europe. Friday afternoon in London less than 30 minutes after the . Employment figures had been released in Washington the Dollar Yasback Down to 1.8625 Marks after having been closer to 1.8670 Marks earlier in the Day. Tim Fox an economist at Barclays Bank in London said the employment report was t going to be enough to boost the Dollar As had been hoped. We re Noi going to get a great Deal of lift on this,1 he said. An american banker in Frankfurt who spoke on the condition thai his name not be used agreed. He said employment growth in september would have had to come in significantly higher than 300,000" jobs in order 1o give the Dollar any Chance at All of making a run toward 1.88 Marks. That level is More and More being viewed by traders As the upper end of the Range that european Central Banks and the . Feder Al Reserve will allow As they strive for Exchange rate stability. The Good news is hat it s unlikely septem Ber s Job creation figures were Low enough to do serious harm to the Dollar in the Days ahead. The american banker said he expects the Dol Lar to Trade Between 1.85 Marks and 1.88 Marks Over the Short term. Central Bank intervention Likely will surface As the Dollar moves toward the top end of that Range and underlying support for the Buck should keep it above 1.85, the banker said.  Rales Are still higher than european ones and that Dilt Prential lends to attract investors to the Dollar whenever it dips too Low in value. The Power of Central Banks to keep the Dollar from making Loo Strong a rally was Moil recently demonstrated during the final week in september. The Dollar hit highs above 1.ss22 Marks that week but the tally was Short lived. As Many As 10 Central Banks including the West German Bundesbank and the . Federal Reserve began Selling massive amounts of dollars for Marks. By week s end the Buck had fallen to 1.8730 Marks and the decline continued All last week As Well. Members of the military in West Germany were adversely affected by the sliding Greenback. The last week in september the Dollar s brie rally meant service members and their families could get a military Exchange Rale of 1.86 Marks to the Dollar. On Friday though the military Exchange Rale was Down to 1,84 Marks. By William j. Bartma Washington Bureau Washington the Pentagon anticipates Cost of living allowances will drop this year through Rouch of Europe but not nearly As drastically As they did this month in Japan. A cola decrease is justified Pentagon comic nation officials say because military families arc moving away from local grocery and department stores and shopping More at commissaries and exchanges. If people Ore saving Money by shopping on base according to the Pentagon they should t need As Bigan allowance you would naturally expect As the Dollar grows weaker for people to Start using commissaries and exchanges More said Dennis Pike of the Pentagon s per diem travel and transportation allowance committee. Increased use of military facilities in Europe where commissary and Exchange patronage already has been growing with the Dollar s decline is expected to be minimal. Bui in Japan and Okinawa there were Large col cutbacks this month. Okinawa saw the biggest number of shoppers switch Over to the military outlets and As result the Index on which living allowances arc computed dropped by 5.8 percent. With the change an e-6 on Okinawa with three dependents and 10 years service will lose ,040 a year Nicola. Prior to the Cut that e-6 Drew $ 13,000 in spendable income plus a $4,940 cola for a total of $17,940. With the cola dropping to $3,900 the service member will have $ 16,900 in annual spendable income. Spendable income excludes housing costs taxes and other fixed expenses. The cola drop in Tokyo was minimal because commissary and Exchange use there remained stable. Other locations in Japan had a larger decrease. Using the defense department s Cost of living Index with 100 being equivalent to the . Market Okinawa dropped from a 138 Index to 130 Tokyo fell from 180 to 176, and most other locations in Japan dropped from 140 to either 134 or 132. By comparison Wisl Germany s Index did not change following a Market Basket Survey in May. Historically we be had rather stable indexes there Pike said. Most personnel in the United kingdom saw a Index Rise of four Points this month  Rale had dropped two Points last november. Soil s More like a Wash there Pike said of the current 114 Index. In Belgium which has a Survey upcoming in no vember the mom area where shape is located did not change during ils most recent review. The Brussels area went Down by to. Daly s Index dropped four Points at the beginning of this year in most major locations such As Naples. A new Survey of the italian Market is due in december. The Netherlands faces a Survey this month. Last year it dropped from two to four Points in various locations the same drop As in Spain which undergoes a new Survey in november. Turkey and Greece like Korea Are considered bar gain countries and have no cola. The Market Basket analysis re evaluates local prices in addition to monetary Exchange rates As opposed to monthly reviews of just the Exchange Rale. So while the cola rat can change from paycheck la paycheck based on currency Levels the yearly Survey establishes the economic base data upon which the numbers arc entered. The Pentagon has rejected requests by its command ers in Japan to cancel the Index drop in the Pacific. Crash battered Mutual funds see results slump for first time in 88 by Bill sing los Angeles time since last october s Slock crash sales of Mutual funds have slumped markedly despite generally Good performances by most funds. Bui based on third Quarter performance results released thursday investors who have been shunning funds now May not feel quite so bad about not buying. For the first time this year funds performed almost uniformly poorly according to Lipper analytical services of Summit no. Reflecting a lacklustre Stock Market in which just about every major Stock Index declined the average general equity fund fell 0.73 percent in the latest three month period that ended sept. 30. That decline followed gains of 5,4 percent and 7.77 percent in the second and first quarters respectively. The More popular fixed income funds which in Vest in Bonds government securities and other inter est paying vehicles gained a respectable but unexciting 1.71 percent in the Quarter following gains of 1.34 percent and 3.73 percent in the second and first quart ers respectively. Most of the top performing groups in the Quarter were funds investing at least partly in Bonds or other income oriented securities. But a. Michael Lipper president of Lipper analytical said the Slock fund results should not be viewed As discouraging. Stock funds were due to have an off period he said the Overall numbers Are mild Lipper said. After two Strong quarters we did t Roll Over and go Down sharply. It s somewhat  nonetheless the results Are Likely to do Little 10 encourage investors to boost their purchases of funds. Fund sales along Wilh sales of stocks in general continue to languish in a Post crash slump. Sates of Slock Bond and income Mutual funds fell in August to $6.8 billion Down from si3.3 billion in month 1987. But withdrawals were even higher. That made a gust the sixth month this year of net outflows in Stock funds meaning that investors pulled out More Money than they put in and the second month since last october s crash of net outflows in Bond and income funds. The results showed again that equity funds As a group have a hard time beating the major Market indexes. The decline of 0.73 percent for general equity funds compared with a gain of 0.33 percent for the Standard & poor s 500-Slock Index and a loss of 0.37 percent for the Dow Jones Industrial average each with dividends reinvested. The results also showed that groups lending the Packin some periods can costly become laggards later. Such was the Case Wilh Gold funds which invest in stocks of Gold mining companies. After leading All fund groups in i9b7, hey continued to slump in the third Quarter. Thanks to falling Gold prices and reduced inflationary expectations Gold funds posted a 10.4 percent decline making them the Quarter s worst performing  reversal was posted by science and technology funds. They registered a drop of 6.32 percent inthe third Quarter after lopping the list of Best perform ers in the second Quarter with a 7,47 percent Rise. All in All 10 of is Stock and Stock oriented fund groups posted tosses the Best performing group in the Quarter was Utility Slock funds which were up 2.01 percent thanks impart to their High dividends and to lower Energy prices. Among individual funds the Quarter s biggest win Ner was Kaufmann fund an aggressive no Load fun investing in Small company stocks that boasted a gain of 18.63 percent. That followed a 25.93 percent gain in the second Quarter when it also ranked first among individual funds. The fund which had $5,000 in assets in 1986, in vests in a Small number of companies with the Poten tial of High sales and earnings growth caused in part by unique Market positions. More than two thirds of the 23 issues in Kaufmann s portfolio Rose in the Quarter defying the Overall slump in Small company stocks. Its biggest Winner was Spectra med a medical products company acquired by a British Arm during the Quarter for $12 a share nearly three times the average Price that Kaufmann fund paid said Lawrence Auna a one of the fund s two portfolio managers. We be done nothing out of the Ordinary we re just executing our philosophy Auriana said. He noted that the fund s assets grew during the third Quarter to $4.7 million from $2.7 million thanks largely to new purchases by investors impressed by the fund s Strong second Quarter performance. Funds thai use value oriented investment strategies such As buying stocks with Low prices relative to their earnings Ana net Worth also did Welt said Joe Mansuela president of coming Star inc., a Chicago firm that tracks fund performance