European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday october 30, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17 Sparks of life in Economy flickered out fed chief says Washington a savings and loan executives gathering for their annual convention monday were almost upbeat. Quite a few but by no Means All Are making Money despite the recession. And although substantial problems confront the Thrift Industry for the most part they be been overshadowed by troubles in the larger commercial banking Industry. Banks Are facing their own insurance fund crisis half a decade after a amp is first faced theirs. A i think the Industry is clearly Over the Hump from the Public relations Point of View Quot rep. Peter Hoagland d-neb., told 2,300 a amp a executives and their spouses gathered for the 99th annual convention of the . League of savings institutions. Quot you All Are the survivors. You stuck to your knitting and you Are Here. The operators Are gone Quot said Hoagland a member of the House banking committee. Attendance at the convention is Down from 2,600 last year and As Many As 5,000 five or six years ago. That reflects the drastic shrinkage of the Industry from 3,252 a amp is in 1986 to 2,176 m August. Conversion rates London up 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 $356.60 an ounce Silver at $4.10. Oct. 26 oct. 29 British pound.1.7050 1.7230 German mark.1.7065 1.6915 French tranc.5.8290 5.7735 dutch fluilder.1.9258 13p�5 belgian franc.35.11.5529 italian lira.1,276.95 1,265.00 Swiss franc.1.4960 1.4805 greek  1s2 s turkish lira.4,954.60 4,954.60 saudi arabian riyal.3.7501 37501 Spanish peseta.107.48 107.75 portuguese escudo.146.82 14724 Canadian  ,1113 austrian schilling.12.0270 12.0620 norwegian krone.6.6960 6.7180 danish krone.6.6185 6.6425 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.67 through wednesday based on tuesdays noontime Price fixing. New York Exchange new York up York Stock Exchange Stock Tel Fonos de my Compaq computer Chase Manhattan Amer express Glaxo holdings Pepsico inc Citicorp Philip Morris Feril Natl Mage at amp to company Westog Housti Eastman Kodak genl electric Waban inc Salomon inc the 15 most Active stocks in new composite trading on monday. Sates last Netcha. 42 off i 29 off 1ft 18ft unch 19ft off it 53ft up 2ft 28 up it 10ft up it 69ft off it 60ft up 1 38ft up it 16ft up it 45ft off it 70ft up 1ft 18 up it 26ft up 1ft 3.267.800 2,676,400 2.604.500 2,505,200 2.268.900 1,984,100 1.933.500 1,842,000 1,322,300 1.272.700 1,208,600 1.168.700 1,103,600 1.101.900 1.086.800 american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading monday. Stock Hasbro inc Energy service Western digital Nabors Industry Iva corp inti Tel charge new York times Viacom inc b metro Mobile b Chambers Dev a sates 534,800 493.400 377.900 371.600 348.000 297.000 287,300 274.600 255.900 250.400 last 35ft 2 2ft 6ft 39ft 1ft 19ft 30ft 21ft 26ft Nat chef. Up 1ft unch off it unch up 2ft off it up it Oft it up it up it by David e. Rosenbaum the new York times Washington a in his gloomiest assessment since last Winter Alan Greenspan the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board said monday that the National Economy had taken a turn for the worse. The Economy is still growing slightly Greenspan told a group of business executives in Providence r.i., but Quot in recent weeks its turned demonstrably  Early news service reports of Greenspan a speech characterized it As even More pessimistic than it was and traders in the Stock and Bond markets took the remarks to mean the fed would act soon to lower interest rates. Prices of Treasury notes and Bonds Rose. And the Dow Jones Industrial average jumped 40.70, to 3,045.62. Greenspan however gave no indication even indirectly of his intentions on interest rates. He has recently been under increasing pressure from Treasury Secretary Nicholas f. Brady and others in the administration to drive rates lower. The Federal open Market committee the policy making Arm of the fed meets this coming tuesday. In july when he gave Congress his official midyear review of the state of the Economy Greenspan proclaimed the recession Over reported signs that inflation was slowing predicted Progress on the Federal budget deficit and was otherwise remarkably optimistic. Mondays speech which he delivered from notes had a much different tone. The a signs of spark that could be observed in the Economy in the Spring and Early summer Greenspan said were no longer apparent. In addition to not tipping his hand on interest rates Greenspan did not say whether other Steps should be taken to lift the Economy. Many lawmakers of both parties have offered tax Cut proposals in recent Days saying that a Cut was necessary to jump Start the Economy. Greenspan referred often to what he called a Quot credit crunch Quot and suggested it was now the main Factor dragging the Economy Down. Quot the Economy is moving Forward but in the face of a 50-mile-an-hour head wind Quot he declared. When Bank lending is tight the growth in the nations Money Supply is inhibited and that inhibition acts As a Drain on the Economy. The Federal Reserve has been pushing interest rates Down steadily so that they Are now at their lowest Point since the 1970s. But that decline Nas not led to More Bank lending spurring the economic growth that Greenspan and other officials had hoped for. Some Bush administration officials have been arguing that the main cause of the credit restrictions is Over zealous restrictions placed by Bank examiners. But Greenspan suggested that More important reasons were the reluctance of Banks to lend freely when they have Many bad Loans on their books and the disinclination of businesses to borrow Money in the face of a weak Economy. Most of Greenspan a speech monday was devoted to the credit situation a problem that is especially severe in new England. Greenspan implied although he did not say so directly that he was not sure whether the inability of creditworthy customers to find Loans was a Short term or a Long term phenomenon. The problem had its roots he said in the tax Law of 1981, which allowed generous new tax Breaks for real estate construction. Many parts of the country experienced a significant overbuilding of commercial real estate and Banks found that their Loans for these buildings were not repaid. Quot we just Greenspan overbuilt to a Point that is quite incredible Quot he said. Eventually Greenspan said credit will once again become More available. He said that availability would begin when Banks see that they have fewer non performing Loans in their portfolios. Banks will then realize that unless they lend More aggressively they will lose their share of the Market to competitors. Ltd a snapping up orders the customers Are lining up for Boeing  hottest new Jet Lin joined British airways United airlines and others As customer the midsize 777, depicted in an artists rendering. Japan ers confirms the Industry a Quot stamp of approval Quot a that the airlines on monday placed 20 orders and options valued at $2 air plane manufacturer has designed a plane major airlines will billion for the wide bodied plane. The order by Jal which buy according to Boeing s chairman Frank Shrontz. Arco increasing layoffs to 2,100 los Angeles up Atlantic Richfield co., moving to Cut Back excess operations plans to Lay off 2,100 workers a up 600 from its original estimate a and will sell 2 percent of its Domestic Oil and Gas properties. Arco which had said aug. 2 it would Lay off 1,500 of its Oil and Gas employees made the disclosures monday As part of its announcement it would Post a third Quarter loss of $156 million. Arco attributed its third Quarter loss to $340 million in charges stemming from Severance obligations to the 2,100 employees the property sales and a writ Down on the Coal resources of Queens land mine in Australia. Arcos Dallas based dil and Gas unit said it plans to divest about 1,100 Oil and Gas properties in the lower 48 states. These properties currently produce about 6,300 barrels per Day of liquids and 100 million cubic feet per Day of natural Gas or about 2 percent of Arcos 1990 production. A Marco is consolidating its property portfolio by Selling certain non strategic assets that done to fit our current focus a said Bill Wade president of the unit. Most of the properties Are located in California Texas Oklahoma new mexi co Arkansas Kansas Wyoming and the Gulf of Mexico. Following the announcements Arco Stock gained $2,125 to $121,375 a share monday on the new York Stock Exchange. Arco spokesman a1 Greenstein said the increase in the number of employees being Laid off was due to cuts from three sources 150 from the Oil and Gas properties Sale 150 from Arco chemical and 300 because of deeper cuts than anticipated from Arco managers. After the cuts Arco will have about 21,800 employees including about 3,600 at Arco chemical