European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Today a tip a raft of economic reports expected this week will test the growing sense in the credit markets that the mild recovery forecast by most economists is stalling. Thus far however the signs of renewed weakness have not been sufficient to dispel the notion among analysts that a rebound is under Way and that it will gather some strength in the third Quarter. Given that Outlook Long term interest rates which fell last week to their lowest Levels since Early june will probably not move much lower in the near term. Indeed with the . Treasury planning to sell a record amount of new securities at its quarterly refunding auctions in Early August the analysts said they expected Bond yields to move higher Over the next week to 10 Days. Conversion rates London up mondays 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 $365.50 an ounce Silver at $4.12. Jul/26 july 29 British pound.1.6895 1.6750 German mark.1.7385 1.7505 French franc.5.9425 5.9440 dutch guilder.1.9682 1.9764 belgian franc.35.955 36.05 italian lira.1.303.00 1,304.5 Swiss franc.1.5125 1.5255 greek drachma.191.69 192.44 turkish lira.4,374.30 4,394.10 saudi arabian riyal.3.7502 3.7501 Spanish peseta.109.44 109.85 portuguese escudo.149.86 150.22 Canadian dollar.1.1493 1.1485 austrian schilling.12.291 12.34 norwegian Krone r.-.6.812 6.8425 danish krone.6.751 6.78 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 1.70 tuesday based on mondays noontime  stung in phone fraud Are hit again by the new York times scores of Telephone Consumers who were the victims of unscrupulous telemarketers Are being cheated once More this time by a company that promises to get them the prizes they were supposed to get the first time. Last week Federal Trade commission officials charged consolidated counselling services of Long Beach calif., with falsely representing itself As a Federal contractor that could recover gifts and Cash. In its Telephone pitch the company represented itself As working under contract to a bogus company the Federal telemarketing Agency. For a fee ranging from $175 to $300, Federal officials say the company promised to deliver prizes promised in earlier swindles. The ruse was rather elaborate Federal officials say. Victims were told by consolidated counselling to Call an 800 number and leave a message about the original swindle. Then a consumer received official looking documents from the company stating that along with redress participants were eligible for prizes. Pm struggles to fulfil promises As Saturn gets off to slow Start Detroit apr a year ago then chairman Roger Smith fulfilled a five year Promise by driving general motors  first Saturn off an Assembly line. Today Gmys Experiment in new ways to make cars is toiling to keep its promises. Supplies of new cars have been limited sales have been sluggish two recalls have been issued and the subsidiary has lost As much As $700 million. The much ballyhooed $3 billion project a where employees Are a team members and dealers Are a retail partners a is More than a new car making company. Saturn corp. Was designed As a manufacturing Laboratory exploring new manufacturing and labor methods to become More competitive with the japanese. So How has the company charged with stemming the Market share growth of the japanese performed Over the last year of car making a with the exception of production volume Saturn achieved what it set out to do a said Auto analyst John cases a of Wertheim Schroder amp co. Of new York City. A the indications we have now Are that it is indeed a High Quality Price competitive Small  the three Saturn sedans and one Coupe priced Between $8,000 and $12,000, went on Sale in october. Between then and the end of june the company sold 27,201, estimated to be about half of what was intended. A we did no to exceed our expectations a Saturn president Richard Lefauve said. A but we really emphasized  workers anywhere on the Spring Hill tenn., Assembly line can shut the whole thing Down if they spot a problem or a potential problem. Its part of a system frequently used in japanese plants but Only now gaining acceptance in big three plants. Because of frequent halts in Early production Days Many dealers who planned to begin Selling cars Early this year had to a tile former pm chairman Roger Smith holds a shirt he was Given during construction of the Saturn Plant in Spring Hill tenn., in 1989. Delay their openings by six to eight weeks. There just weren to enough cars to go around. But the retail partners Many of whom plopped Down $5 million to open their new Saturn showrooms did no to raise much of a ruckus. Some said they were disappointed and most said they would just be patient. Things Are getting better said Dave Fischer owner of a Saturn franchise in Troy mich., North of Detroit. His opening earlier this year was delayed because of a Lack of cars. A a we re in pretty Good shape a he said. A there is a pretty even distribution of the body  not so just a few months ago. Dealers were howling for coupes and the company continued to churn out sedans. Saturn officials said they had decided to concentrate first on sedans partly because sedans sell better in the Winter than the sportier coupes. Today Lefauve said the mix of cars is running about one third on the upper end Sedan a Little More than a third on the lower end Sedan and a Little less than a third on coupes. Saturn is taking about a third of its sales from buyers who were thinking about buying another pm car most Likely a Chevrolet. The process called a cannibalization a helps Saturn sales hurts Chevrolet sales and does nothing Overall for the corporation. Company officials originally said just 20 percent of Saturn a sales would come from cannibalization. Top businesses in Japan named in widening brokerage scandal Tokyo up a top japanese corporations were swept up monday in an ongoing brokerage scandal when the nations leading economic daily published the names of 187 firms it says received illicit compensation from the a big four securities houses. Hitachi Toyota and Nissan were among those named by the Nihon Meizai Shimun. The list which the paper says is based on information the finance ministry obtained from the big four also includes at least three individuals. But they were identified by initials Only. Recent attention in the scandal has focused on the list As the bureaucracy and government led by prime minister to Shiki Kaifu and finance minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to pressure securities companies to voluntarily release the names of clients they compensated the big four securities companies a Nomura Uaiwa Nikko and Yamaichi a refused to comment on the list. Compensating clients for Market losses violates a finance ministry directive but is Legal. However pledging to compensate clients for any eventual loss a and in effect guaranteeing a certain rate of return a is illegal. The big four and at least six other securities houses have acknowledged they compensated clients but deny any promises were made. Hitachi and its subsidiaries received More than $22 million from Uaiwa Nikko and Yamaichi according to the newspaper. Toyota and Nissan each received More than $11 million from Uaiwa alone. Mar Beni a trading company and its subsidiaries were paid $44 million in compensation the paper said. The largest figure paid to an individual identified Only As h.m., was $ 14 million. All told the 187 companies and three individuals received $774 million according to the papers figures. Earlier in the month the scandal forced Nomura chairman Tetsuya Tab uchi and vice chairman Yoshihisa Tab uchi to resign because Strong criticism of the company had not abated. Federal Agency probing 2 car models Washington a Federal engineers Are stepping up an investigation of engine fires in the 1990 Toyota camry and Are studying fires in Jford Crown Victorias designed As police cruisers the government announced. The National Highway traffic safety administration said it had received eight complaints of fires under the Hood of the camry. A wiring Short is a possible cause spokesman Tim Hurd said. Originally classified As a preliminary evaluation which involves mostly paper work the investigation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis in which the possibly defective parts will be studied. A your engineers Are looking into it at this Point a Toyota spokeswoman Mindy Geller said