European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 a the stars and stripes thursday february 20, 1992money matters today a tip the Uso has produced a video called heroes for hire aimed at Selling the concept of hiring those soon to leave the service. The video features statements by top executives of . Firms and another by Gen. Colin l. Powell chairman of the joint chiefs of staff lauding the abilities of those in uniform. The video also provides tips on How to find qualified military applicants through defense department programs. The department plans to Send copies of the video to its 355 transition offices serving All services. It will also be sent to military and veterans organizations Uso offices and .  rates London up wednesdays 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 $352 35 an ounce Silver at $4 07 feb 18 feb. 19 British Pound 1 7514 17525 German Mark .1 6210 1 6465 French iranc.5 6020 5.6010 dutch guilder.1 8550 1 8525 belgian Iran. 33 92 33.86 italian lira. 1,234 95 1.235 00 Swiss iranc.1 4885 1.4870 greek drachma.189 76 189.64 turkish lira. 5.740 80 5.755 90 saudi arabian riyal.3 75 3 75 Spanish peseta .103 04 103 02 portuguese escudo.14137 14142 Canadian Dollar.1.1915 1 1892 austrian Schilling. 11 5575 11 5920 norwegian Krone. 6 4450 6 4490 danish Krone.6.3740 6.3720 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 British pounds to . Personnel for personal use. Through thursday this will be $ i to for a Pound based on a Price fixing wednesday afternoon at military banking  York Exchange new York up a the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on tuesday Slock sales last net chg. Uniss corp 5,595.100 11 a up a Glaxo holdings 3,883,000 29 v4 up is Micera group 3.493,300 34 a 0t14vs Chrysler corp 3,135,200 16vh unch general motors 2,615,500 374 off a Wendy s inti 2,408,500 12v4 unch Hanson pc 2,332,600 184 up 2? Avistar inti 2.310,300 3v� unch Ford motor co 2,265,600 36 Hott w Wal Mart stores 2,130,900 514 o 12 Natl med enter 2,007,500 14 a Oft is Citicorp 1,971,000 16w up a Bristol Myersq 1,868,200 774 Oft vat amp to company 1.804,300 374 Ott 1 Fedl Natl Mage 1,784,600 60 is Oil 2v4 \ american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading tuesday Stock Salas last Nal chg. Wang labs inc b 2,419,700 5 up is dog corp 1 022.900 64 up 1 is Alza corp 697,400 40 is o 12 go video inc 652,100 34s Ott is magma Copper co 542,700 84s unch Echo Bay mines 418.600 7v Oft is no Amer vaccine 393,500 12 i Oft 1 14 Ivan corp 384 900 34 Ott 3 Nantucket ind 374.200 11 up 2 fruit of loom 363 600 33 up w 1 Dow Jones new York up a Dow Jones closing Lange of averages tuesday High Low close change 30 industrials 3280 19 3195 66 3224 73 ot17l?4 20 transport 1435 16 1410 31 1420 03 up 13 83 15 utilities 208 31 205 06 206 00 Ott i 81 65 stocks 1185 72 1159 72 1168 82 of 2 31 Good news on inflation seen rate expected to stay stable Washington a Many economists believe this years inflation news will be almost As Good As 1991�?Ts, which was the Best in half a decade. If they re right that would be something of a feat because last years performance was helped by the recession and developments in the persian Gulf War. But economists believe that even if the Economy As expected returns to modest economic growth by midyear inflation will continue to be benign. They Are forecasting that consumer prices for 1992 will Rise by 3 percent to 3.5 percent Little changed from the 3.1 percent increase for 1991. A we believe that inflation has stabilized and it is not an immediate problem a said David Wyss an economist a we believe that inflation has stabilized and it is not an immediate problem a economist David Wyss with Dri Mcgraw Hill a consulting firm in Lexington mass. The. Labor department was to report wednesday on what consumer prices did for january. In Advance of that report Wyss said he was looking for an increase of 0.2 percent As falling Energy prices helped keep a lid on Overall costs. The report on consumer prices followed last week s news that wholesale prices fell 0.3 percent in january. The Bush administration worried about a sick Economy in an election year Points to the Good news on inflation to support its argument that the Federal Reserve Board has plenty of room to Cut interest rates even further. The 3.1 percent increase in inflation last year marked a Sharp contrast from the 6.1 percent jump in 1990. Two thirds of the improvement came from a 7.4 percent decline in Energy prices. After skyrocketing in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait Energy prices fell for much of last year As saudi Arabia stepped up production to compensate for lost production in Kuwait and Iraq. 7% increase in exports last year kept battered . Economy afloat by the los Angeles times Brussels Belgium a it is one of the largely unheralded economic Phenomena of the 1990s exports have kept the wobbly . Economy from spinning wildly of of control. Economic output in the United states fell 0.7 percent last year. Exports meanwhile surged by almost 7 percent. Without that growth in exports the year s Overall decline in output would have been double what it was. Nowhere Are . Exporters having better Success than in Europe. Sales to the 12 nations of the european Community soared by 8.5 percent in the first seven months of last year to an annual level of $105 billion. That makes the dec the biggest foreign customer of american business ahead of Canada at $85 billion and Japan at $49 billion. Consequently the United states is running a hefty Trade surplus with the eco $16 billion at an annual rate through the first seven months of last year compared with a deficit of nearly $20 billion just three years earlier. Aircraft and electronics top the list of the . Industries with the strongest Export growth. Quot High technology exports have led the Way a said Stephen Cooney director of International investment and finance for the National association of manufacturers in Washington. A the cliche that the United states is exporting potato chips not semiconductor chips is not  some of the major causes of . Exporters Success a a weak Dollar and Strong european economic growth a Are transitory. Yet the Export surge is persisting and Cooney for one believes it can continue. The Export Boom began when the Dollar which relentlessly gained in value during the first half of the 1980s, started sliding in Early 1985. Since then the Dollar has lost nearly half its value against Many Western european currencies. Beyond the declining Dollar the climate in Europe has been right Lor . Goods. Quot dec �?T92,�?� the european Community a program to dismantle Trade barriers among its member nations by the end of 1992, is making it easier for . As Well As european manufacturers to operate overseas. And thanks to an economic Boom in the second half of the 1980s, Western europeans have had the Money to buy foreign goods. Now however Europe a major econ German Boom stalled in 1991 by the new York times Bonn Germany a Germany a reunification Boom fizzled into economic stagnation during 1991. Figures released tuesday by the Federal statistics office showed the German Economy Europe s largest was hit hard in 1991 by recessions occurring elsewhere in the world dwindling Domestic consumption huge overseas payments and a Steep Rise in interest rates that Hurt Export sales. Those factors pushed Germany s current account which includes Trade in merchandise services tourism and certain financial transfers into a deficit of 34.2 billion Marks or $21 billion in 1991. The deficit is Germany s first since 1981 and contrasts to a surplus of 77.4 billion Marks or $47.7 billion in 1990. Huge financial transfers including payments of More than 30 billion Marks or $18.5 billion to the Allied Powers in the persian Gulf War and to the european Community worsened the current account deficit. The surplus in merchandise Trade which measures exports of goods against imports declined to 20.8 billion Marks or $12.8 billion in 1991, from 107.4 billion Marks or $66.2 billion the previous year. Germany a Trade with the United states swung into a deficit of 1.3 billion Marks or $800 million in 1991, compared with a surplus of 9.8 billion Marks or $6 billion in 1990. The Bundesbank Germany scentral Bank in its monthly report said Western Germany a Gross National product shrank by an estimated five tenths of 1 percent in the fourth Quarter of 1991, compared with the third Quarter. It was the third consecutive Quarter without growth. Homies Are sagging. Britain remains stuck in recession and Germany is teetering after its Post unification Boom. For this year Dri Mcgraw Hill a consulting firm in Lexington mass., predicts weak economic growth of Between 1 percent and 2 percent for Europe a biggest economies a Britain Germany France and Italy. For . Exporters however prospects May not be so Bleak As those numbers suggest. Dri predicts that merchandise imports will grow by a brisk 5 percent this year in Britain Germany and France. And those numbers miss the new sales opportunities that some american exporters Are finding in Eastern Europe. Take Caterpillar inc., for example which had a poor year in 1991. With the . Economy mired in recession the Illinois company could scarcely Budge its Earth moving machines off its . Showroom floors. Its Bottom line showed $404 million in losses. But Caterpillar Salesman Wols mock Kat Isnit complaining. That a because he is Selling Caterpillar machines in Eastern Germany where business is booming. Quot the demand is very great because the need in our Region for roads Railroad tracks and sewage canals is enormous a said Moc Kat caterpillars Branch manager in Berlin and regional manager for much of Eastern Geri Pany. Caterpillar now has 14 outlets in former East Germany where there had been none until last february. Sales of its Gigantic earthmover jumped from none in 1989 to 355 in 1990 and 758 last year. Altogether half of caterpillars sales last year were abroad. Exports brought in $3.71 billion in Revenue and supported 19,500 jobs in the United states. The multiplex co. Of St. Louis which makes soft drink dispensing machines for Mcdonald a and other restaurants is finding its biggest growth markets in Eastern Germany Poland Czechoslovakia Hungary and even what used to be Yugoslavia. No . Industry has contributed As much to the european Export Boom As aircraft. According to the Commerce department exports to Europe soared from about $4 billion in 1986 to $11.5 billion in 1990. At the beginning of the 1980s, Cooney said the . Civilian aircraft Industry exported about one Quarter of its output. By the end of the decade he said the Industry had sold five sixths of its products overseas