European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 18, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17 Money matters at amp to Universal card services said on monday that it is lowering its variable annual percentage rate to 15.4 percent from 16.4 percent for the cards 8.5 million charter members. The new rate is effective april 1. The rate for the More than 4 million card members who signed up after the charter membership period expired will drop to 15.4 percent from 17.4 percent the company said. The card is 2 years old. At amp to Universal card services said its variable annual percentage rate which is pegged to the prime rate has fallen a total of 3.5 percentage Points since april 1991. The card was launched March 20, 1990, and now ranks third in number of accounts cards issued and charge volume among nearly 6,000 Bank credit cards. 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 $339.25 an ounce Silver at $4.08. March 16 March 17 British Pound.1.71635 1.73235 German mark.1.6650 1.6505 French franc.5.6585 5.6260 dutch guilder.1.8760 1.8640 belgian franc.34.29 34.05 italian lira.1,253.30 1,246.95 Swiss franc.1.5075 1.4975 greek drachma.192.51 191.40 turkish lira.6,059.80 6,064.10 saudi arabian riyal.3.7501 3.7501 Spanish peseta.105.49 104.57 portuguese escudo.143.66 142.65 Canadian dollar.1.1990 1.1966 austrian schilling.11.735 11.648 norwegian krone.6.540 6.498 danish krone.6.465 6.425 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rates concerns the Sale of German Marks and British pounds to . Personnel for personal use and these will be 1.61 Marks to a Dollar and $1.77 for a Pound through wednesday based on tuesdays noontime Price fixings. New York Exchange new York up a York Stock Exchange Stock Uniss corp Eastman Kodak Ford motor co Rwjr Nabisco hid Chrysler corp Weyerhaeuser co Pfizer inc Glaxo holdings general motors Tel Fonos de my the 15 most Active stocks in new composite trading on monday. Citicorp Philip Morris Striae rite up Home St mining at amp to company sales last net chg. 2,578,700 10 a up 1 off 1% 2,544,700 40% 2,252,400 37% up 1 % 2,231,500 9% off % 2,093,000 17% up % 2,018,200 36% up 2% 1,510,600 70% off % 1,391,600 27% unch 1,322,900 37% unch 1,292,600 54% up % Oft % 1,227,500 16% 1,142,200 78% up 1,137,100 24% up % Oft % 1,130,900 13% 1,118,200 38% off % american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading monday. Stock Conti air Hodgs inti Corona Wang labs inc b Rhone Poul cart pm group web Echo Bay mines us banknote Hill Haven corp go video inc instrument sys Salas Lett net chg. 2,431,900 1% up % 1,733,300 4% unch 650,400 5% off % 508,400 1 9-16 off % 403,100 11% up 358,700 7% unch 355,600 7% up % Oft 322,700 2% 311,500 3% off 250.300 7% up % Dow Jones new York up Dow Jones dosing Range of averages monday 30 industrials 20 transport 15 utilities 65 stocks a Lek 3249 11 1406 20 204 87 1169 61 Low 3201 25 1385 84 202 55 1152 98 Clou 3236 36 139574 204 06 1163.79 change up 0 45 on 5.04 up 0.76 off 0 60 Iacocca s Low profile successor not vying for celebrity status by Amy Harmon los Angeles times Highland Park Mich. Robert j. Eaton was meant to be the Star at the news conference Chrysler corp. Held Here monday to announce his appointment to succeed Lee a. Iacocca As chief executive. But sandwiched Between Iacocca and company president Robert Lutz a two of the Auto Industry a most charismatic leaders a the uni posing former general motors corp. Executive looked out of place at his own Parade. Nor is competing with his flamboyant predecessor and his Debonair Deputy High on Eaton a list a a Lee a Lee and in a me a Eaton said unapologetic ally. A i wont have the National prominence of Lee  Eaton will take Over when Iacocca retires in december. Lack of stage presence has not Hurt the 52-year-old executives career so far. Chrysler a new Leader comes to the company from the Helm of Gmys european operations. During his four year tenure there he presided Over a turnaround that culminated in record sales and profits of nearly $2 billion in 1991, a key performance in a year when the Parent company posted a loss of $4.5 billion. Credited with recognizing the Fertility of Eastern Europe a untapped markets Eaton carried off the launch of sales and manufacturing operations in Hungary Eastern Germany and Poland from his base in Zurich Switzerland. Pm Europe takes in $25 billion in annual revenues and employs about 90,000 people making it roughly the size of Chrysler. Despite Eaton a Success at running pm Europe some Chrysler insiders worry that Eaton May taint the company with a pm management style a one that has been widely criticized As too Safe and often stultifying. A if Bob Eaton really wants to come Here As a Down and dirty hands on kind of manager he a got a hell of a Poten investors guide Chrysler a a new chairman Robert j. Eaton is flanked by the current chairman Lee a. Iacocca left and Chrysler a a president Robert Lutz. Tial a said Joseph Goulart the manager of Chrysler a a alternative engines task Force. A if his approach is a i need 43 pm vice presidents to follow me Over Here a he a doomed because this place does no to need  but Industry observers said that even during his years at pm Eaton demonstrated an Independence often hard to find within Gmys dense layers of bureaucracy. For example As product planning manager for Chevrolet in 1969, Eaton lobbied for reducing the size and weight of pm cars almost across the Board Long before Uch ideas were popular a or taken seriously by top pm management. And former pm vice chairman Howard Kehrl who was Eaton a Boss during the Early 1980s, recalls that As the head of Gmys advanced engineering and manufacturing operations Eaton again risked the disapproval of his superiors by championing the Saturn project. Saturn is now viewed by Many As a Success a and a Radical departure a for the worlds largest automaker. A native of Buena Vista colo., Eaton joined pm in 1963 with Chevrolet a engineering Center. He worked his Way through the engineering ranks to head Gmys future product development and engineering staffs. Eaton holds a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas. Lower rates Hurt mortgage funds by Bill Doyle q. My wife and i both retired and in our Middle 60s, Are mainly invested in a Gama government National mortgage association Mutual fund. Our individual retirement accounts Are in the same fund. The funds per share asset value has moved from about $9.50 in january 1990 to $10.22 today. What effect will lower Home mortgage interest rates and refinancing of existing mortgages have on Gama funds a. The major Impact will be a and already has been a lower dividend payments by the funds to their shareholders. A second result might be declines in share values at some Gama funds resulting from investment mistakes by fund management. Think this through and you will realize Why. A Gama Mutual fund invests in government National mortgage association securities. Each of those securities is backed by a Pool of mortgages. The interest homeowners pay on the mortgages is passed along to fund shareholders As dividends. With interest rates Down its natural for those dividends to decrease. As homeowners refinance and pay off their mortgages Early that Money goes to Gama securities and on to Mutual funds holding those securities. The funds have to reinvest that Money in newly issued Gama securities which pay lower interest. That aggravates the funds dividend problems. As the result of mortgage refinancing a fund might receive less principal from a Gama Security than it paid for the Security. That happens because the fund paid a Premium Price a higher than the remaining principal amount of the mortgages involved 1�? for Gama securities that were paid off Early. That Falls under the heading a investment  based on its share value which increased 8 percent in 13 months your fund seems to have suffered few investment mistakes. Stay with it. Q. I have noticed hat the share prices of All Gama Mutual funds respond to the Market about the same each Day even though their individual holdings vary. Is this a Correct Assumption a. It is unless managements of some funds make the investment mistakes mentioned in this columns preceding answer. After All other than the interest rate each pays there is no real difference among various Gama securities. Those interest rates which Range from 7.5 percent to 12.5 percent determine the Market value of the securities. A 7.5 percent Gama Security currently trades at about 97 percent of the unpaid principal of the mortgages backing that Security and a 12.5 percent Gama trades at approximately 116 percent of that principal amount. Q. With interest rates falling i have been moving my Money out of certificates of Deposit As they mature and into Mutual Hinds a $40,000 in a Gama Hind and $30,000 in a Short term Bond fund. But i wonder what to expect when the Economy improves. Will these types of funds reasonably hold their values As interest rates Rise a. The Gama fund should for the reasons outlined above. Assuming its Well run the Short term Bond fund should not suffer badly. An improving Economy of course results in More demand for Loans and higher interest rates. When that happens the Market values of previously issued debt securities go Down. Mixing term Bond prices plunge because they will not be paid Oft for Many years. But the prices of Short term Bonds normally drop a bit a not drastically a in periods of falling interest rates. The reason is simple. The owners of those Bonds know they will be Able to redeem the Bonds at face value not too far Down the Pike. Those Bond owners Are not about to unload at fire Sale prices. C King features Syndicate