European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 08, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february a t991_. F the stars and strikes Page 21money matters fewer people Are filing tax returns Early this year a at least so far. But those who have filed Are enjoying it More according to the internal Revenue service. A Quick Check of returns filed by taxpayers in january shows the average refund Check mailed by the irs last month was $981. One year ago the average refund Check was $827. No word on Why fewer returns Are being filed at this stage but the Best guess is that operation desert storm has thrown Many families tax paying plans behind schedule. Conversion rates London Pip thursday s closing rates for the . Dollar to other currencies figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at s364 an ounce Silver at $3.83. British Pound. German Mark. French Trane. Dutch Guilder belgian franc. Italian lira. Swiss franc. Greek drachma.155.75 turkish lira 3,024.80 saudi arabian Riyal .3.7503 Spanish peseta 91.39 portuguese escudo. 129.40 Canadian dollar._______________1.15 to austrian Schilling. Feb. 8 .,2.001 4552 .,96 1 .6393 .,-.30,00 ______1.095.50 1.2375 a feb. 7, a 1.9945 1.4552 4.954 1.6388 29.90 1,094.10 1.2355 155.55 3.024.4q 3.7503 91.39 128.43 1.1570 .10 2375-. -10.2290 a norwegian ,�?z.,5.6960 5.6860 danish Krone. .5.602 5.59s these Are unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. A a Hie Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use. And this will be 1.42 Friday based on thurs Day s noontime Price fixing. New York Exchange new York up a Tho 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on thursday Stock Quot sales lest Nelcha. Chrysler corp Quot. 3,585,800. 12 off Chrysler corp general motors Philip Morris Wal Mart stores waste mgt inc Exxon corp genl electric get corp at amp to company ism corp. Limited inc Amer express Eastman Kodak Pepsico inc fold motor co 3,323,100 3.028.000 2.843.300 2.742.300 2.739.200 2.612.300 2.552.000 2.535.200 2.532.000 2.381.000 2,315,600 2.287.000 2,234,700 2.175.300 35 % 58 36 a 40% 53 % 64% 30% a 34% 128% 23% 24 i 43% 29 29% up. Ell up. Off up % off 1 % unch up off 1 off of off off up american Exchange new York up the 10 mod Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading thursday Slock san ust net Che. Hill Haven corp a 1,293,000 2 unch Wang labs inc b 902,700 2% off fruit of loom 869,800 11 % off Salomon it 93jan 749,200 17 up am Neust 2 so 562,000 b. Up Western digital 529,900 6 on Camlai cruise .521,900 18 up amen Cus get k 507,800 9 up Cal Energy inc 475,200 9% up Echo Bay mines 382,100 8 up Dow Jones new York up a Dow Jones dosing Range of averages a thursday _ a a a  Low. Close 30 industrials 20 transport 15 utilities 65 stocks 2875.50 2790.59 1130,99 215.61 1032.18 1092.21 210.51 1001.20 2010,64down a 20.30 1103.67 Down 9.34 213.47 up 2.64 1010.48 Dawn 4.48 War in desert has Public Ungry for Mideast info by Chuck Roberts staff writer War with Iraq has set off a quest for information about the Middle East that has emptied bookshelves propelled newspaper circulations upward  television news ratings climbing. A a i have no books about the Middle East Capsor language Hooks Quot said Ben fioritto manager of a stars and stripes Bookstore in Frankfurt Germany As soon As it comes in it s gone.�?�, the War has created a hunger for infer mation said Lee Selverne president of worldwide Media a Book distributing company in new York. A we believe people keep looking for More and More facts because the government is keeping a lock on the information being supplied to the Public so they turn to other sources for information a Sel Verne said. A worldwide Media is trying to satisfy this demand with 200,000 copies of a desert shield Facebook and a half my Liori issues of a Magazine called operation desert shield. Selverne said company sales have increased As much As 25 percent because of the War but noted that transportation problems have shut off company Book sales in the Middle East. He said outlets in such countries As Jordan Lebanon aft Syria were lucrative markets for science arid technology books. Are seeing sales figures climb. The 1.7 million circulation of Usa today a National edition increased by an average of 424,000 copies a Day beginning the week after the War began newsstand sales for the International Herald Tribune in Germany have increased by about 20 percent because of the War which amounted to an extra 1,600 newspapers. However it is too Early to Tell the specific Impact the Gulf conflict has had on 1990�?Ts sales said Anne Aghion from the Tribune circulation department in Paris. The Tribune has a european circulation of about 145,000 and a worldwide circulation of approximately 20 �?~�?T0ct0. Circulation at the stars and stripes has dropped by about 4,500 copies in Germany because of troop reductions in Europe but Overall sales have increased by about 65 percent because an extra 81,000 business news sales of existing Homes took 4th-Quarter dive Washington a sales of existing Homes Sank 5.5 percent in the final three months of 1990 to the lowest quarterly level in six years As potential buyers were deterred by worries Over the Economy and the persian Gulf crisis a real estate Trade group said. Those concerns combined with higher mortgage rates earlier in the year depressed sales for All of 1990 to 3.61 million units. That was a 4.5 percent drop from 1989 and the lowest number of sales since 3.49 million in 1985, the National association of realtors said. The Survey covered sales of existing single family detached Homes town houses a apartment  s and co opera Tives. Existing Home sales represent about 80 percent of the housing Market. New Home sales suffered similarly last year the Commerce department reported earlier. They were Down 17,5 percent can viewership during operation desert storm total number of households tuned in to can during 10 834 000 primetime 8 00 . To a a 11 00 . Est. Quot 9,346,000 operation Desort k549.000 6,041,000 storm begins 628,000 monday Jandt tuesday Jan.1s wednesday Jan.16 a thursday Jan 17 a Friday Jan 18 saturday Jan. 19 sunday Jan. 20 copies Are being sent daily to saudi Arabia pushing the newspapers total circular lion to 200,000. V television has pulled in huge numbers of viewers As Well. Can International saw its share of viewers in the United states More than double because of its extensive coverage since the War began. Prime time ratings for can jumped from 5.1 percent on Jan. 15 to a Peak rating of 19.1 percent on the Day the War started. The 19.1 percent Mark has been topped Only by abcs coverage of the super bowl on Jan. 27, which grabbed a 35r7 percent rating. The 19.1 percent rating translates into about 10.8 million . Households watching can the Day the War began. In Europe can added 494,000 household subscribers in january to reach a viewing audience of about 6.8 million people. / a spokeswoman at the can Public relations office in London said can has mixed emotions about the increase. A a it a unfortunate that a crisis like this brings can to the forefront but that a what can does Best a she said bookstores on military installations in Europe have been scavenged by people seeking maps books or any other information about the Middle East. Helping meet that demand for books is Dale Oehler vice president of Warner publisher services International in new York. He said the company a big seller is a Book called a How to defeat Saddam Hussein a by . Army col. Trevor Dupuy. Warner originally was going to publish Ter 536,000 units compared with 650,000 in 1989. Job situation worsens in Eastern Germany Berlin apr the worst is yet to come for workers in economically troubled Eastern Germany where some communities reportedly Are near financial collapse. Quot a. A Quot the latest government figures show More than 2,6 million eastern1 germans were jobless or kept on payrolls at drastically reduced hours in january a jump of 176,500 from the month before. A by far More jobs Are being lost than created a said Federal labor office chief Heinrich Franke. A already under . Pressure to provide More Fin a Rici Al he to for the go 1 f War Chancellor Helmut Kohls government in recent Days has been facing bad economic news at Home. That includes predictions of a Likely slowdown of German economic growth. Franke said that Only new jobs can turn 300,000 copies of the Book but added an additional 200,000 to satisfy the demand. At the stars and stripes Bookstore in Giessen Germany there is an empty spot among its Best Selling books. All 29 copies of a Saddam Hussein and the crisis in the Gulf sold out in one Day after the War began store manager William Dulay said. Dulay said popular4sellers at his store had included comic books sporting books and Hustler Niaga Zinc. But the big Sellers now Are anything dealing with War the Bible and a Book titled a nostradamus and the millennium a which is about a French physicians predictions of the future. Jutta Brinkman said literature about the. Middle. East also has been Jong gone7 from her stars and stripes Bookstore Al Rhein main a Germany where thousands of servicemen Libers pass through on their Way to saudi Arabia. She said sales for magazines such As Playboy arid Hustler have increased nearly 30 percent a fall they need is a Playboy a Hamburgen arid a comb a is what she tells soldiers Pis they Stock up on material to help pass the Lime. Overall she said sales no december were $140,000, compared with $125,000 during i be same period last year a. F / a a whether can will be Able to convert soaring ratings into big advertising dollars is also questionable. The network s ratings Rose during the fall of the Berlin. Wall the crackdown in Tiana men Square and the san Francisco Bay area earthquake but the ratings fell Back to rior Mal Levels soon after the events. That could happen again a around the situation for the Eastern German work Force which Nuri Ibers about 9 million. . Bank Reform plans hailed by europeans Brussels Belgium up euro can Bankers and officials Are Wel coining the proposed sweeping changes to . Banking Laws unveiled this week by the Bush administration. A the american plans will certainly strengthen the . System but will provide exciting opportunities for european institutions As Well a said sir Leon Brit Tan financial services commissioner of the 12-nation european Community which will have a single banking Market by the end of 1992. The reforms among other Steps would reverse 51 year old Laws that restrict Cross state branching and prohibit Banks from underwriting securities. The removal of internal Borders to Bank expansion should increase the attractiveness of the .  european Banks