European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. July 24. 1991 the stars and stripes Page 17 a today s tip while american express visa and others grapple for control other new forces Are at work in the credit card Field. More and More non Bank entrants Are seeking a piece of the action and that could mean lower interest rates and cuts in annual fees charged to customers. The Pioneer in this area was at amp to which now has 10 million of its Universal cards in circulation. Ford last month joined the fray with no fee visa and Mastercard. The Competition is All Good news for Consumers said Spencer nil son publisher of the Nilson report a los Angeles based credit card newsletter. New card issuers Are More Likely to Cut consumer charges he Sai 1 conversion rates London up1 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 $368.05 an ounce Silver at $4.35. July 22 july 23. British pound.1.6825 1.6725 German Mark. 1.755 1,767 French franc.5.9685 5.999 dutch Guilder .1.9775 1.992 belgian  36.42 italian lira.1,309.50 1,315.00 Swiss franc.1.5175 1.5335 greek drachma.192.45 194.66 turkish lira .4,356.70 4,379.50 saudi arabian riyal.3.7502 3.7502 Spanish peseta.109.72 110.17 portuguese esoudo.150.60 151.20 Canadian Dollar.1.158 1.1551 austrian schilling.12.3785 12.444 norwegian krone.6.855 6.89 danish krone.6.801 6.836 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 belgian Market was closed monday for a Bank Holiday. American Exchange new York up a the ten most Active stocks in Stock Rhone poulenc fruit of loom Echo Bay mine Kirby corp Dow chem it Conti air hid found Atn hath Ivan corp carnival cars be Mac corp sales last net chg. 518,700 3 v6 j up a 343,900 15%. A up 1/4 off i 302,600 9% 251,900 12 a up off 243,700 6% 201,800 1 % off % 197,900 28% unch 194,30 f 32 % up 1 % 186,800 22 off % 161,400 8% unch Dow Jones new York up monday 30 industrials 20 transport 15 utilities 65 stocks Dow Jones closing Range of averages High 3034.44 1223.91 201.40 1078.35 Low 2990.83 1204.87 199.20 1062.98 close 3012.97 1212.27 200.64 1070.43 change off 3.35 off 5.82 up 0.56 on 1.78 amex s profits drop 20% from heavy losses new York apr american express co. On monday reported a 20 percent profit drop in the second Quarter As its Shearson Lehman Brothers subsidiary wrote off a $144 million investment in seized insurer first capital holdings corp. Aside from writing off its 28 percent stake in first capital which suffered from heavy holdings in junk Bonds Shearson also was charged $27 million for scaling Down International banking operations at its Boston co. Subsidiary. European . Advisers say by Randy Mcclain financial writer the advertisement seems like a can to miss proposition. A Are you looking for an account where you can save for something special where you will earn a Good rate of interest and where your Money will be readily accessible if you should happen to need it at Short notice a the and in an overseas English language newspaper  a a Lombard one month notice account is just what you Are looking  the account which is denominated in British pounds is currently paying 8 percent for an investment of 1,000 pounds or More. That a roughly 2 percentage Points More than comparable certificates of deposits Are paying at american Banks these Days. Financial advisers in Europe though said investors should be wary of deals from the British based Lombard North Central pc which Bills itself As the a Complete finance service a or other similar High interest savings vehicles offered by various Banks in Germany Denmark and other european countries. Don Womack a financial planner who caters to american clients in Frankfurt Germany said he would never become involved in such deals. Womack and other investment advisers said that making Short term deposits in a foreign currency can prove costly for several reasons. Americans May find it difficult to investigate the financial stability of an overseas Bank the advisers warned and fluctuating Exchange rates can eat into investment profits when a customer tries to change his or her Money Back into dollars. The customers take Home pay May prove to be Zero or even a loss depending on How the Dollar performs during the life of the foreign investment. Safety is another Factor to be considered. Bank deposits in the United states Are covered by the Federal Deposit insurance corp., which protects individual accounts up to $100,000, Womack said. A but a he added a you might not have the same coverage in a foreign  checking out the financial stability of foreign institutions also can be a problem in Womacks View. A a in a very leery of that a he said. A How do you know about the Bank a management what a really happening with these people there Are too Many unknowns there. American service members and government civilians have Long been on the mailing lists of foreign Banks and some institutions seem to be picking up the marketing Pace As european interest rates continue to outpace american ones this summer. Investment advisers Are suggesting though that service members in Europe not give in to the lure of higher overseas rates just yet. That trend May be about to reverse itself. Charles Fronstin a financial planner in Frankfurt said investors who sit tight a few More weeks or months May see . Rates begin to close the Gap As the american Economy recovers from recession. A by contrast in Europe there is a Sharp slowdown in economic activity taking place. France is in recession Spain is slowing sharply the . Is several months into recession and there Are signs that even the German Economy is beginning to slow a Fronstin said. His prediction is that european interest rates will tend to slip Lovler in the coming months while american rates stay firm or even Edge higher. Investors capital will Start flowing to the United states in larger volumes he said. A fall things being equal you re better off in dollars a added Barry Swanson an investment adviser in Heidelberg Germany. Swansong a viewpoint is that the risk of Exchange rate losses makes overseas Short term Bank deposits a risky business. A whenever your income earnings and expenditures arc in one currency and you invest in a different currency you re not playing on a level playing Field a he said. Swanson for one said he thinks the Dollar is Likely to get stronger in the next few a months and that would work against any investments made in a foreign currency. Investors who want to put a portion of their Money to work in Europe would be better served by buying shares in global Mutual funds those which own Stock in european based companies As Well As american ones Swanson said. There Are even some attractive Mutual funds sold in German Marks and British pounds Swanson said. But the catch there is that an investors gains would have to be particularly Strong to make up for currency shifts. A you May be Able to live with a currency hit though if your gains Are High enough a Swanson said. Camera inventor sues Polaroid alleging infringement of Patent Houston up a an inventor has filed a multimillion Dollar Patent infringement lawsuit against Polaroid corp., which last week received a $925 million settlement from competitor Eastman Kodak co. Over similar claims. A they kept talking about Polaroid being David and fighting the giant Goliath Kodak a Alton Wheeler said monday. A this is a Case where David has now turned into  wheelers lawsuit filed in Federal court in Houston on june 27, does not specify an amount of damages sought. But Wheeler estimated that an award could approach the amount of the Polar Iod Kodak settlement if he is successful. Polaroid spokesman Jim Murphy declined to comment on wheelers suit. The focus of the dispute is polaroids photo magic camera which allows instant photographs to be taken with graphics a such As a Holiday or company logo a imposed on them As they develop. The photographs can be left As they Are or can be turned into such items As buttons key rings or Christmas ornaments. A package of traditional graphics can be purchased for the cameras which sell for about $295, or custom graphics can be ordered the inventor said. Wheeler said he invented the product in 1979. Eventually lie licensed Polaroid to Market 12,000 cameras and signed a consulting agreement with the company based in Cambridge mass. A it has gone Over almost like the Hula hoop a he said. A a it a kind of like achieving the american dream when an inventor hits one like this. Its rare you hit one like this and very rare you make a Deal with a Fortune 500  but now Wheeler said the company a had intentions of trying to circumvent it from the Start. A Wheeler said Market forecasts had indicated about $70 million could be made from the cameras. He said that he rejected a Polaroid offer of $6 million for the Patent and that when Polaroid had manufactured about 9,000 of the 12,000 cameras it then offered him $500,000 for the patents. The offer had been dropped because Polaroid claimed to have developed technology for improved graphics on the photographs the inventor said. A they said if i did no to take the $500,000,1 could forget it a he said. The settlement that Kodak based in Rochester n.y., paid Polaroid on july 15 ended 15-year Legal Battle. It also ousted Kodak from the instant photography Industry. Wheelers suit seeks damages profits from the patents interest and attorneys fees and court costs. It then asks the court to triple the amount awarded. . Deficit Falls to $2.5 billion in june Washington apr the governments budget deficit narrowed to $2.5 billion in june Down 95 percent from May a record imbalance and 78 percent less than the Gap posted for the same month a year ago the . Treasury said monday. But it still was the second straight year the governments balance showed red Ink in june which a typically is a surplus month a according to economist Kath Leen Stephansen of Donaldson Lufkin amp Jenrette a new York securities dealer. The additional red Ink in june raised the deficit for the fiscal year ending sept. 30 to $177.5 billion Well Over the $162.6 billion shortfall the government ran up in the first nine months of fiscal 1990. The White House office of management and budget projected in its midyear review this month that the fiscal 1991 deficit will be a record $282.2 billion a $35.9 billion less than $318.1 billion the Bush administration projected in february. Revenues so far this year have totalled $789.9 billion up 1.6 percent from the first nine months of fiscal 1990. But spending totalled $967.4 billion 2.9 percent More than the outlays during the same period of the last fiscal year. The deficit is the difference Between the two