European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page in the stars and stripes business news Rosy report on . Jobs boosts Dollar f vice president George Bush was looking for a Little extra ammunition to use in the final Days or the presidential Campaign he just May have gotten it with 3 glowing report Friday on the . Jobs picture. The front running Bush who has pointed with Pride to the Large number or jobs created during president Reagan s eight years in office now has 325,000 More to Crow about that s the number of jobs created in october according to the latest . Government employ ment figures released last week. The nation s unemployment Fate is now 5.3 percent of the work Force its lowest since May 1974, by Randy Mcclaln the Good economic Newt was t lost on the financial markets either. Currency traders who have been exceedingly bearish about the Dollar the last several weeks took the employment Fig ures As a positive sign far the Buck. They drove the Dollar higher at week s end against most major currencies against the West German Mark the Dollar was trading late Friday afternoon at 1.7870 Marks. That s slightly higher than the level at which the Dollar closed in Europe one week ear Lier. Against the French franc the Dollar stood at6.1010 late Friday compared with 6.0650 francs to the Dollar a week before. Currency traders however said hey Don think the slight improvement in the Buck s value signals a fundamental change in the Dollar s Long term direction. The Dollar has gone a bit higher but it s not exactly roaring said Tim Fox an economist for Barclays Hank. London. Most people arc still bearish. I Don t believe they think the Dollar s up Side has the most  Fox said he expects the Dollar to Trade Lowe against the Mark and other currencies for several More weeks. The Barclays economist said he does t Sec currency traders Overly excited abour either Bush or democratic challenger Michael Duka Kis bul Bush at least represents pretty much the status quo economically and traders Are some what comforted by that people Don t know that much about Duka Kis bul they have this vague idea about him and the democrats being More protectionist Fox said. Should Dukakis pull a Truman like upset the Dollar Likely would fall he said. Friday s jobs report though was on Bright note in what otherwise had been a gloomy month of economic statistics. The new employ ment data perked things up by registering a considerable improvement Over the previous two months figures. "  in August and september an average of240,000 new jobs were created and much of that increase was attributed simply to teachers going Back to work after summer vacation. In october on the other hand manufacturing. Jobs turned in Strong Gro Rrth. A total of 100,000 Assembly line jobs were created compared with a loss of 45,000 manufacturing positions during the previous two months. "  traders had expected the october jobs data 10 merely match the 240,000 Jobi Cre ated during August and september the better than exp cled performance finally gave Dollar supporters a hard and fast reason to rejoice even if ii does prove to be a Short lived Cele bration. 1 � slur and Suitt merchants getting More arms with full service capabilities by Randy Mcclaln financial Miter merchants National Bank plans to More than Dou ble the number of on line automated Teller machines it operates in West Germany within four weeks but it will be late next year before customers can use the machine to tap into stateside Bank accounts. Merchants which provide banking services in West Germany Greece and the Netherlands under a con tract with the department of defense has seven of its 88 Green machines automated Teller on Lin. A total of 7 will be on line by the first week in december and All 88 by the end of May. On line service Means customers can use an Auto mated Teller to Transfer funds Between checking an savings accounts and to get up to the minute account balances. The rest of merchants arms Only can be used for making Cash withdrawals or deposits. The give no account information and customers interested in checking their balances have to stand in line to ask Teller. On Lin arms also allow customers to withdraw up to $500 per Day or its German Mark equivalent$200more than can be dispensed by merchants off line arms. The improvement in atm service is designed tallow customers to conduct most business Short of applying for Loans electronically James Smith vice president for systems and operations for merchants in Frankfurt said customers have been putting the on line arms to the lest since the program started on an experimental basis three months ago. He said customers arc transferring funds Between checking and savings accounts and then checking account balances seconds later to Sec whether the trans actions have been properly tallied. Some customers arc transferring funds in $20 increments just to see whether the on line system works. It does Smith said. It s the most amazing thing you be Ever seen. Peo ple were getting their balances moving Money around and then checking their balances again Smith said of one on is e inspection he made recently. Some people were running Back and Forth Between our two machines at Rhein main just to Sec if their balances were the same on  system has been up More than 98 percent of the time and virtually All Down Lime has been the result of customers shoving damaged atm cards into individual terminals said Reinhold Langguth assistant Vic president and manager of electronic banking. Merchants Green machine automated Teller at Wiesbaden a came on line oct. Is to become the seventh in the test network. Next up will be machines at Leighlon Barracks wet Ryburg Harvey Barracks and Larson Barracks Kitzi genl Peden Barracks Wert him and in . Those five arms will come on line the week of nov. 21-15, following that automated Teller machines will come on line during the week of dec. 5-9 at Conn Barracks and Ludward Barracks Schici Hurt Pioneer Cavern Hanau Daley Barracks bad kissing in and Sger bar Racks Aschaffenbur. The rest of the schedule agreed upon by the depart ment of defense and merchants Calls for 20 automated tellers to be on line by Jan. 31 and All by by May 31. Merchants and the department of defense also Are buying 30 new automated Teller machines for just less than $950,000. Smith said those machines will be delivered next Spring. They either will be placed at new locations or will replace older machines elsewhere in West Germany. Smith said merchants and the department of de sense also Are considering tying their european Green machines into the armed forces financial network a network of arms near stateside military bases and into Cirrus a commercial Bank atm network that has hundreds of participating Banks and thousands of interconnected automated Teller machines in the United states. Well look at that next summer Smith said. Our first priority must be to get our machines Here on  earlier merchants officials Aid a Hookup with a United states atm network was Likely Early in 1989. Smith and Yvonne Wise manager of Public affair for merchants said the Bank plans to promote the use of its arms through advertising an spots and Bro Chures. In some cases Smith said customers have what methinks is an unjustified hang up about banking via machine. I personally think banking by atm is More efficient but a lot of people like to go to the warm fuzz inside of a building and talk to a real person he said. Planners fast times Over discover life in the slow Lane by Albert  the Washington Post new York two years a of financial planners arriving for their annual convention in Chicago found a shiny red Corvette glittering in the Middle of the exhibition floor. The car was a prize offered to the planner who did the most business for a certain investment company. This year he meeting was in new York and there was a car again. But it was a Back to basics Black 1946 Continental and it was part of the decor nobody was giving it away. A gone along with the prize Corvette were most of the real estate tax shelter marketers who brought big promotions and big commissions to financial plan Ning. To " indeed a year after the Stock Market crash and two years after tax Reform this is an Industry in transition after so much time Selling tax shelters and High commission Mutual funds to the Well to do planners arc having to find another Way to make a living. Some. Are having a hard time doing it. The people who have realty been Hurt by tax re form and by the Market crash tend to be people who were focused on product sales said Larry Carroll chairman of the International association Tor Finan Cial planning the Industry s largest Trade group and sponsor of the meeting they tend to have moved on to other things.". F.-.,. Cairell estimated that the average planner s income is  per cell to 25 percent from  or two ago. The lamp s own membership has declined 12 percent to 15 percent from its Peak 2 i j mrs ago. Change was even More visible on the convention floor in new York. The number of exhibitors declined from 575 last year in Atlanta to 475 Here with most of the drop coming among real estate a indicators. The falloff would have been even More dramatic but for100 new entrants led by insurance companies appear ing for the first Lime. The mix of people that Are on our exhibit floor is typically a very Good representation of the Revenue mix or the investment mix of the average planner Carrol said. And you la find the average planner is doing very ital pc in the real Clale area at this  departure of the High risk High commission products and the resulting economic pressure on plan ners is producing another effect the rediscovery of the Middle class. Traditionally planners have focused on High in come clients because most financial planning hid its genesis in tax planning it continued. Because the wealthy were Best Able to pay the fees of fee base planners or 16 make the investments that generated the commissions to support. The commission based  along with the recent lax Reform and Stock mar Ket problems there has been a growing realization among planners that there Aren t enough Nch people to. Go around. " so the Industry is being forced into what Atlanta planner Gail l. Cook Calls financial planning for the  planners to survive we really Are going to have to pay attention to this Market she said they rep resent the broadest segment of the Market available to us and in Many cases they arc the affluent of tumor