European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday july 10, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17 today a tip a is xxv x in Mutual Benefit life insurance co., the nations 18th-largest life insurer said it would reduce its Home office staff in Newark n.j., by 30 percent to 430 employees. Included in the layoffs will be roughly a Quarter of the company a managers. The company a problems Are fairly easily defined. It has a $5 billion portfolio of commercial real estate Loans. Roughly 10 percent of them Are in trouble. Mutual benefits difficulties typify the increasing concern about the Overall health of life insurers. Two major companies first executive and first capital have failed in recent months. Conversion rates London up a tuesdays 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 $369.50 an ounce Silver at $4.47. A. July 8 july 9 British Pound .1.6290 1.6235 German Mark .1.8120 1.8130 French franc.6.1460 6.1590 dutch guilder.2.0440 2.0398 belgian franc.37.32 37.3325 Kalian lira.1,348.9 1,350.9 Swiss franc.1.5645 1.5685 greek drachma.198.80 198 14 turkish lira.4,362.60 4.366t0 saudi arabian riyal.3.7503 3,70503 Spanish peseta.114.30 113.86 portuguese escudo.158.89 158 02 Canadian dollar.1.1439 1 1470 austrian Schilling .12.7740 12j460 norwegian krone.7.0870 7 0750 danish krone.7.0160 7.0750 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 German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.77 wednesday based on tuesdays noontime Price fixing. . Economy resumes slide surveys show London up despite a Brief lift in business Confidence at the end of the persian Gulf War Britain a Economy has slipped further into recession two key business surveys said monday. A report from business information services giant Dunn and Bradstreet corp. Said postwar Confidence apparent in last quarters Survey has disappeared. A your Survey shows we Are now on the second downward phase of a double dip recession which we first measured in Early 1990,�?� said Philip Mellor of Dunn and Bradstreet. The Survey said the recession was expected to continue at least until the end of the year. A Survey by the Institute of directors also published monday concurred that the recession was not easing. The Institute urged the government to Cut interest rates a at the earliest Opportunity a to Aid ailing businesses. A your Survey confirms that the euphoria recorded in the Spring Survey was a Blip and directors Are now expressing greater doubt both about the . Economy and company prospects a said Peter Morgan the institutes director general. . Among new York a american companies again dominated the list of the worlds 500 biggest Industrial concerns last year capturing 164 spots including six of the top 10, a compilation by for Quot tune Magazine shows. Japan ranked second in the International tally claiming 111 companies 011 the list followed by Britain with 43 and France and Germany each claiming 30. General motors remained the worlds largest Industrial company posting revenues of $125.1 billion. But Tough times in the Auto Industry put pm near the Bottom in terms of profits. With a $1.99 billion loss the company ranked a lowly 485th based on net income. Other . Giants to vie with two British one japanese and one italian company for the leading 10 places were Exxon Ford ism Mobil and general electric. Overall however the United states suffered a net loss of three companies from the list. Among the 15 dropouts were steelmaker Aramco floor maker Armstrong world industries computer concern control data and cosmetics maker Revlon. A Quot dozen were newcomers. Remain dominant Industry giants among them conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Glassmaker Corning and Hershey foods corp. A fortunes a global 500�?� ranking was released monday and appears in its july 29 Issue. The list differs from the magazines annual Fortune 500 listing of the biggest . Industrial corporations and the Fortune service 500, a ranking of the biggest . Non Industrial corporations. All the lists Are ranked by annual revenues. Underscoring the economic difficulties companies encountered in 1990 was a Steep 17 percent decline in profits for the global 500. But Fortune said there were a plenty of signs that the worldwide Economy was readying for a rebound a notably a 10 percent Rise in sales to $5 trillion. Among individual industries car makers a including Japan a Mazda Nissan and Isuzu a were hit especially hard with sales inching up just 6.9 percent while profits plunged 57 percent on average. Petroleum refining was the Best performing Industry with sales totalling $941.2 Billioni among companies that climbed higher were British Petroleum to eighth place from 10th, and Texaco to no. 19 from 23. German concerns bolstered by an expanded consumer Market brought on by unification saw sales leap an average 19.5 percent. Companies in Japan which has slowed economically Over the past year had a 1.7 percent Revenue gain. Fortune said the former East germans who have amassed considerable savings were snapping up used cars which in turn encouraged compatriots in the West to buy new bows Mercedes and Volkswagen. Elsewhere Germany s Siemens bucked the trend among electronics companies by posting a 16 percent jump in profits on a 20 percent increase in sales. Pharmaceutical companies put in Stellar performances with profits soaring 42 percent on average on a sales increase of 23 percent. For the beleaguered computer Industry on the other hand sales Rose just 1.4 percent though companies managed to squeeze out More profits which advanced 19 percent. . Accuses japanese firms of dumping computer screens by Stuart Auerbach the Washington Post Washington a the United states acted monday to protect two fledgling american manufacturers of the most advanced display screens used in Laptop and notebook computers. The Commerce department accused their japanese rivals of dumping the screens in the United states at a Price More than 60 percent below the Cost of production. The departments complaint will if upheld impose stiff penalty duties equal to the discount on the screens for the fastest growing segment of the personal computer Market. Several american computer manufacturers who use imported screens argued however that the proposed High penalty duties for those screens could increase the Price of their .-made computers making them uncompetitive against japanese imports. Apple computer inc. Uses such advanced Flat panel screens today while International business machines corp., Compaq computer corp. And other computer makers expect to use them in future Laptop models. Since the duties apply to the screens Only and not to fully assembled computers several companies said the penalties could Force them to manufacture their next generation of laptops overseas. Or they said it is possible that japanese or . Firms could invest in the costly factories needed to make the screens in the United states. To Rover , computer firms fear that they will be at a severe disadvantage to japanese Laptop makers because those same japanese firms often Are also the suppliers of the Flat panel displays. Nearly All japanese manufacturers today assemble their laptops in the United states because until recently imported laptops were subject to a 100 percent duty. That duty was lifted As part of the recent .-Japan semiconductor agreement. With the duties gone the japanese companies seem More Likely to move manufacturing Back Home making it possible for them to import laptops duty free whereas their . Competitors manufacturing at Home would pay duties on the imported screens. To Case complaints from .-based computer manufacturers which had lobbied hard to forestall any dumping penalties the Commerce department imposed no duties on the Type of screens being used today on most Laptop and notebook computers because no american company manufacturers them. This Trade complaint parallels one brought by . Automakers charging that their japanese rivals Are illegally discounting the Price of minivans sold in this country to gain Market share. Flat panel display screens were invented in the United states hut their greatest commercial development came in Japan. American companies produce a tiny snare of the $3.5 billion Market but Are fighting to come Back with the next generation of screens. Japanese firms hold about 85 percent of the global Market. The minivan also is an american invention and it remains one of the few segments of the automobile Industry in which . Companies Are beating the japanese. The International Trade commission will make the first ruling in the minivan complaint wednesday. Americans borrowing Falls again Washington apr americans reined in their borrowing at a 1 percent annual rate in May with the fifth pullback in six months resulting largely from a 14.1 percent plunge in automobile Loans the government said monday. Analysts attributed the decline to consumer and Lender caution which they said could mute the Economy a recovery. The Federal Reserve said consumer credit fell by a seasonally adjusted $626 million after increasing at a 1.9 percent rate in april. The april gain originally estimated at 2.8 percent was the first since instalment credit advanced last november at a 4.5 percent rate. Consumer credit includes All consumer Loans except mortgages and Home equity debt. It helps finance much of the Overall consumer spending that represents two thirds of the nations economic activity. Analysts Are looking to the consumer sector to Lead the Economy out of the recession. But economist Sandra Shaber of the futures group a Washington management consultant firm said the consumer credit report suggested two things that a Consumers Are still cautious taking a wait and see attitude As to whether the Economy really is recovering and that lending institutions Are not too willing to extend  a putting both together a consumer caution and Lender caution a suggests a real constraint on this turnaround a she added explaining that a sustained recovery will require both spending by Consumers and lending by financial institutions. Instalment debt shrank at a 0.6 percent rate in december the first dip since it inched Down 0.2 percent in february 1989. And As the recession wore 011, Consumers continued to rein in their debt As their jobs and incomes became More Uncertain. Consumer credit fell at a rate of 3.7 percent in january 0.3 percent in february and 0.5 percent in March. It was the first four month stretch of declines since 1980 when credit controls were in place. The automobile Industry has been among the worst affected by the recession