European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Today s tip regulators unveiled sweeping reforms in the $2 trillion government securities Market in an Effort to prevent another scandal like the Salomon Brothers inc. Fiasco that Shook Wall Street late last summer. Their goal is to inject More honesty and dependability into the system where the government finances its $3.5 trillion debt and where americans buy Bonds for their childrens tuition or their own retirement. The changes were released  rates London up thursdays 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 $355.75 an ounce Silver at $4.31. Jan. 22 Jan. 23 British Pound. 1.8055 1.7955 German Mark. 1.5825 1.5935 French franc. 5.4055 5.4315 dutch Guilder. 1.7880 1.7965 belgian franc. .32.68 32.76 italian lira .1,192.85 1,198.60 Swiss franc .1.4045 1.4040 greek drachma 183.38 184.00 turkish lira .5,387.30 5,406.50 saudi arabian Royal 3.7501 3.7501 Spanish peseta 100.20 100.57 portuguese escudo 136.55 137.32 Canadian Dollar 1.1537 1.1545 austrian Schilling 11.1725 11.2125 norwegian Krone 6.2320 6.2530 danish Krone. 6.1505 6.1740 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 1.55 through Friday based on thursdays noontime  York Exchange new York up a the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on wednesday. Stock sales last net chg. Chemical Bank 10,914,000 27 % off i computer Assoc 6,230,300 15 i up 3 i Glaxo holdings 4,274,900 31 i up i adv Micro docs 2,912,900 21 up 1 Uniss corp 2,706,000 5 it up i Baxter inti inc 2,695,600 37 off Chase Manhattan 2,669,700 21 i up Virr Nabisco hid 2,180,800 10 i up it Amer express co 1,923,500 22 i up i Citicorp 1,901,600 14 i up i Wal Mart stores 1,815,000 56 i up 2 general motors 1,812,500 33 up i Tel Fonos de my 1,761,000 50 i up i Cypress sem icon 1,741,400 14 i up i Home depot inc 1,651,500 65 i up 3 via Merican Exchange new York up a the ten most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading wednesday. Stock sales last net chg. Wang labs inc b 1,530,600 3 i up i us Bio science 668,200 34 i up 1 Ich corp 604,100 4 i up % Alz corp 595,900 47 i a pvt Enzo Bochem 521,000 4 i unch carnival cruise 407,300 26 i up a Bat industries 396,900 11 i up 1-16 Weatherford inc 382,400 5 of i pall corp 369,600 30 a up i Ivan corp 363,900 34 i up Vidow Jones new York up Dow Jones closing Range of averages wednesday High Low Closs change 30 industrials 3272.81 3190.97 3255.81 up 32.42 20 transport 1415.36 1385.28 1407.14 up 16.07 15 utilities 215.39 211.57 215.20 up 3.01 65 stocks 1184.52 1157.37 1178.84 up 12.88auto Deal proposed Warsaw up the polish government will let three Western automakers import 10,000 cars each duty free if they sign contracts to produce goods in Poland the news Agency Pap said thursday. The sweetener involving the general motors corp. Of the United states Volkswagen of Germany and Fiat of Italy was announced late wednesday. Friday january 24, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17money matters massive layoffs May take bang out of . Rebound new York apr general motors 74.000 jobs. Ism 49,000 jobs. Citicorp 17.000 jobs. And now United technologies 13,900 jobs. Unlike one time layoffs of the past often prompted by Plant closings these Job slashing will be spread Over several years and could haunt the Economy Long after the recession ends. A the recovery will be limited by it a said Ken Goldstein an economist at the conference Board a new York based business research group. A this is an Economy that is not going to come Back with any kind of great  corporations apparently believe they Are being More humane by announcing their cuts far in Advance experts said wednesday. They Hope to entice employees to take Early retirement or opt for other voluntary Severance plans limiting the need for layoffs. But in the meantime the drawn out Job cuts could have Many damaging effects on the Economy such As hurting if s going to be a horrible Job Market for new entrants and the people who lost their jobs a economist James Fralick a we had those Waves of layoffs in october and november. You saw what happened to consumer Confidence a it just plunged a said James Fralick an economist with the investment firm Morgan Stanley amp co. That led to one of most disappointing Christmas shopping seasons in years. The announcement tuesday by United technologies corp. Of 13,900 Job cuts through 1995 heightened the problem consumer Confidence. A a it a fairly demoralizing if you know there seven a Small probability you re going to be Laid off. You re going to Cut Back on your spending a said economist Doug handler of Dun amp Bradstreet corp. Consumer spending which accounts for about two thirds of economic activity must pick up for any economic recovery to accelerate economists say. Jan. _. Fralick said. It followed similar an Iti clip business machines general motors corp. And Sears Roebuck and co., All noun cements by Citicorp International siness a a a a up. An leaders in their industries. Most of the jobs to be eliminated will never come Back said economist Richard Hoey of Dreyfus corp., a Mutual fund operator. Ana another Impact of the cuts is they will limit the number of new employees hired by these companies. A a it a going to be a horrible Job Market for new entrants and the people who lost their jobs a Fralick said. Some Banks padding interest rates to Stem Avalanche of refinancing by the associated press interest rates May be the lowest in years but some Banks have padded their rates and put customers on hold to Stem the flood of homeowners who want to refinance their mortgages. Homeowner Gary tis of Farmington Hills mich., says he feels sandbagged. A i decided to refinance just after Christmas. I spent three Days trying to make appointments with no Luck a tis said wednesday. Weeks later when he finally made an appointment for february the mortgage rate had dropped to 8 percent. A week later the rate Rose to More than 8.5 percent making it less attractive to refinance his Home which is into its second year of a 30-year mortgage at 93/4 percent. A i actually had a Lender Tell me it was a management decision to raise the mortgage rate to discourage refinancing a he said. A it just seems like the Federal government has been lowering the rates to put More Money in the hands of the Consumers but then the middleman stops All the Money flow which to me is the  tis Isnit alone. According to Industry analysts the urge to refinance has reached a fever pitch. According to the Federal Home loan mortgage corp., which represents More than 2,200 savings institutions Banks mortgage companies and other lenders close to 1.6 million of the nations 60 million homeowners refinanced their mortgages last year. About 73 percent of the mortgage applications in Early january were for refinancing said Sharon Mchale spokeswoman for the mortgage Bankers association. A refinancing is up 311 percent from the same period in january 1991,�?� Mchale said. A people arc working incredible overtime just to keep up with the  and that has caused some headaches for Consumers itching to take advantage of interest rates at their lowest since 1973. A six months ago you could just walk into a Branch office and fill out the forms. Now you have to make an appointment a said analyst Keith t. Gum Binger of Ash associates of Butler . A surge in Bond sales last week drove interest rates to a National average of 8.53 percent for a 30-Ycar, fixed rate mortgage up from 8.31 percent a week earlier Gumbinger said. A six months ago when business was really slow Banks  have upped their rates so quickly. You done to want to Chase away customers a Gumbinger said. A but now their buckets arc full a he said. A so they say a lets raise the rates. If we discourage a few customers that Sok. It gives us More time to devote to the paperwork for the clients we have in the  a fed Survey shows Limp Economy with modest gains in housing Washington a economic weakness pervaded virtually every part of the country As the new year began with retailers factory owners and Bankers complaining of sluggish business activity the Federal Reserve said wednesday. The feds Survey depicted an Economy mired in stagnation with Little suggestion of a rebound outside of some modest gains in housing sales. A activity was lacklustre As the year Drew to a close a the Central Bank said in a Survey compiled from reports from its 12 regional Banks. The fed did hold out the Prospect of better Days ahead noting that a business and banking contacts generally anticipate that economic conditions will improve by  one of the few Bright spots in the Survey was a slight upturn in housing sales and construction activity in Many parts of the country in december. First time Home buyers were lured into the Market by the lowest mortgage rates in nearly two decades. The report said that St. Louis Kansas City Dallas and Atlanta All detected some improvement in single family construction. Bankers in Philadelphia Cleveland and Kansas City foresee healthy sales gains during the Peak Spring season. That View seemed to be bolstered by a separate report wednesday that showed new construction of Homes and apartments jumped 2.6 percent in december to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.103 million units the fastest Pace in 13 months. Building permit applications often a sign of future activity improved even More in december rising by 5.8 percent. The fed report will guide policy makers when they meet feb. 4 and 5 to map interest rate  list topped by Merck new York a Merck amp co. Inc. Topped Fortune magazines list of americans most admired companies for the sixth year in a Row the business publication said wednesday. The other companies on the list Are Rubbermaid inc., Wal Mart stores inc., Liz Claiborne Levi Strauss Johnson amp Johnson coca cola 3m, Procter amp Gamble and Pepsico. As for the least admired the list was dominated by savings and loan institutions. The companies Are Crossland savings Continental airlines homered Wang labs Uniss Ltd dime savings called  textile group and Glen cd