European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday May 6, 1991 the stars and stripes c Page 17x Money matter today s tip three of the biggest telecommunications companies in the United states plan to test whether Cable television subscribers Are interested in expanded pay per View services. The expanded services will be provided to 450 Cable subscribers through a joint Effort by telecommunications inc., at amp to and us West the regional Telephone holding company. The 18-month Market will be conducted in the Denver area. Participating customers will be Able to select record or View movies from a Central video Library by using Remote equipment in their Homes. The expanded services could be available nationwide within three years. A. A. A a a a a a a a a. A conversion rates London up fridays 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 $354.25 an ounce Silver at $3.96. British Pound. German Mark. French franc. Dutch Guilder. Belgian franc. Italian lira. Swiss franc greek drachma. Turkish lira saudi arabian Nyal. Spanish peseta. Portuguese escudo. Canadian Dollar. Austrian Schilling. Norwegian Krone. Danish Krone a May 2 May 31 7165 1.6930 1 7225 1.7480 .5.8500 5.8085. 1 9335 1.9305.35 540 35 255. 1,280 00 1.271.10 1 4600 14715 186 50 186.00 3,903 00 3,899.70 3 75 3.75 .106 00 105.88. 147 10 146.69 .1 1506 1.1499. .12 065 12.055 6 6870 6.6765 6 5570 6.5515 these Are unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of British pounds to . Personnel for personal use. Through monday this will be $1.75 for a Pound based on a Price fixing Friday afternoon at military banking  says Ford can tap fund Detroit up a Ford motor co. Says the United Auto workers will allow the company to dip into a previously Frozen fund to help maintain the incomes of unionized workers idled by slow vehicle sales. Ford spokesman Dick Routh insisted the $150 million that the no. 2 automaker will use is not a loan and that it has promised to replenish the reserves. Routh said the funds left Over from the 1987- 99q Ford Law agreement were Frozen at $178.9 million. By agreement Ford must keep a $25 million minimum in the fund he said. Since the new contract was signed Ford has spent less than $100 million of that $1.2 billion commitment despite widespread layoffs due to one of the weakest Auto markets in a decade. Last week Ford posted record first Quarter losses of $884 million citing the recession War fears and High marketing costs. Combined with general motor corp., and Chrysler corp., the big three lost nearly $2.6 billion a a record for any three month period in . Automotive history. Market advances Only slightly despite drop in jobless rate new York up a even though lower unemployment figures were reported and interest rates fell the Stock Market last week managed just a Small gain. Traders had discounted the Federal Reserve Board s Cut in the discount rate to 5.5 percent from 6 percent before it occurred tuesday. But a reduction in the unemployment rate War Rich traders who feared that the current economic decline May be ending and interest rates May Start to climb. Higher interest rates could Hurt the Economy and the Market so stocks meandered. The Market stung by Selling last monday could record Only one Strong gain and three moderate ones the rest of the week. _ the Dow Jones Industrial average inched up 0.25 Friday to end the week at 2938.86. For the week the Dow Rose 26.48, or just under 1 percent. Broader Market indexes like the new York Stock Exchange composite Index and Standard amp poor a 500 Index also had Small gains. A amp pcs 500-Stock Index advanced 1.78 to end the week at 380.80, and the new York Stock Exchange composite Index advanced 1.13 to end the week at 208.40. Advances led declines 1,126-803 among the 2,214 nose issues traded during the week. Weekly big Board volume totalled 1,063,740,230, compared with 1,006,530,830 the prior week and with 841,761,970 a year ago. The Stock Market to a 35-Point decline last monday in Light trading. Two rally attempts failed and the Market succumbed to another loss. The fed Cut the discount rate tuesday which started a rally but that faded by the Middle of the Day. Then the Bond Market rallied and the Market posted a gain of about 10 Points. The discount rate is the interest rate that the fed charges Banks and other depositary institutions from its regional Reserve Banks. It s also a key economic indicator. A a a a a it a a. A a a a it a a a. A. That sparked a Cut in the prime rate or the rate Given to a Bank a Best commercial customers to 8.5 percent from 9 percent. The prime rate reduction wednesday ignited an Early rally which evaporated until a late wave of computerized program buying sent stocks into the second straight winning session. The Bond Market Rose after yields fell which also helped the Market gain about 42 Points., the Market managed a Small gain thursday of about eight Points. However a government report showing that initial unemployment claims Rose 2,000 to 500,000 depressed buying. On Friday the government said april a unemployment rate had fallen 0.2 percentage Points to 6.6 percent. Nevertheless the Market failed to rally for traders feared interest rates might go higher and a late surge of program Selling sent stall any incipient recovery. A the Cut in the discount rate was already in the Market a said Ron Doran director of institutional trading at . King amp associates in Albany n y. Quot we got what we hoped  lie added a people would like to put More Money into stocks but they Are pricey. We be had a Good  on the trading floor during the week Duracell which had an initial Public Stock offering was the most Active Stock at 211/4, unchanged. Pepsico was the next most Active off i at 31 a. Rwjr Nabisco was the third most Active Stock Down 16 to 1 1%. Ism was the fourth most Active off a to 103%. Some brokerage firms lowered their earnings estimates for ism. Pm which announced a $377 million first Quarter earnings loss was also act live rising 1% to 38. Ltd which filed its payment plan for pensions fell a to i is. On the american Stock Exchange the amex Market value Index lost 0.31 at 363.56 for the week. Declines led. Advances 523-329 among the 1,015 issues traded for the week. Amex volume totalled 74,605,240 compared with 68,766,330 a week earlier and 65,243,685 traded in the same week a year ago. Amdahl was the most Active among amex issues falling from 16 to 15. The National association of securities dealers composite Index dropped 2.54 to end the week at 492.10. Cigarette company trying to keep smokers with medium version by Anthony Ramirez. The new York times Philip Morris trying to Stem the slow decline of its Best Selling cigarette plans to introduce a version of Marlboro called Marlboro medium that has tar and nicotine Levels Between those of the regular and Light versions. The new cigarette is intended to slow the defection of Marlboro a own smokers. Marlboro continues to sell strongly in a declining Industry. Substantial profits helped finance the 1980s acquisition of general foods and Kraft which made Philip Morris the worlds largest consumer products company. But smokers of regular Marlboro who wanted a lighter cigarette disliked Marlboro lights for taste and packaging reasons according to Industry researchers. Many of them defected to other brands. These smokers Are responsible for buying perhaps 1.5 billion packs a year or two thirds of the decline in unit sales for Marlboro. By offering a cigarette with More tar and nicotine than Light versions Philip Morris Hopes to keep More of these smokers. The medium cigarette to be introduced in Junco will have 12 milligrams of tar compared with 16 milligrams in the a full flavor version and 11 for the Light. Marlboro medium would also have eight tenths of a Milligram of nicotine compared with one Milligram for the regular and seven tenths for the Light when Marlboro lights were introduced in 1972, they were intended not to Hurt sales of the main Brand known As Marlboro  they tended to attract Young men considered the most desirable customers because they Are the heaviest smokers. With a smaller triangular Symbol in Green and Gold Marlboro lights and menthol versions tended to attract women. The sex split was further strengthened with a Brownish a a Corky tipping for Marlboro red and White for the Light version. Full flavor smokers usually males preferred the Cork tip. But in the 1980s, when some men began to defect to lighter cigarettes they did not find an attractive Marlboro version researchers noted. In researching an ultralight version of Marlboro Philip Morris discovered a larger Opportunity for a medium Flavoured cigarette. The company has yet to introduce an ultralight Marlboro. But Philip Morris May yet find itself in a marketing dilemma because Marlboro has built its Brand identity on full flavor especially in the 1960s and 1970s, when  today a smokers began. It did so again with Marlboro lights marketed As having full flavor in a Low tar cigarette. Dec to lift its ban on . Horse meat Brussels Belgium a the european Community has agreed to lift its ban on imports of fresh horse meat from the United states and May suspend its ban on beef and pork from . Abattoirs soon an dec official said Friday. Dec farm commissioner Ray Mcsharry meeting . Counterpart Secretary of agriculture de Madigan and . Trade representative Carla Hills in Washington on thursday said the horse meat ban would be lifted from All but one . Exporter this week. The dec official said the Plant which will continue to be subject to the ban could be the one which had exported unhealthy horse meat to France causing the ban in the first place. The ministers also discussed a solution to the ban on . Pork and beef abattoirs exporting to the Community. Dec inspectors will be sent to examine the . Plants. If they meet the. Minimum sanitary standards contained in the eco a meat import legislation the Community will lift its ban the official said. That could be As soon As the end of May. However this would Only be an interim measure until the end of the year to give both sides time to reach agreement on a common set of standards for meat Hygiene. Macs Harry said the dec would Reform its soybean regime by july 1992. At the beginning of 1990 a general agreement on tariffs and Trade panel ruled that dec soybean subsidies violated world Trade rules. The Community a farm support system was one of the factors that brought the Gatt Uruguay round of world Trade talks to a halt in december last year. The dec offered to Cut farm subsidies but not enough to satisfy the . And other agricultural producing nations