European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 7, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday May 7, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 15money matters Moody a investors service a major credit rating firm said tuesday that it would not lower its opinion of seats Roebuck and  debt because the Sears retail business is poised for improvement. Moody a whose ratings reflect Confidence in a company a ability to repay lenders started reviewing Sears debt in january and cited the company a difficulty in improving returns in its merchandising group. Under review was $7.4 billion in structured securities backed by Sears credit card receivables and $2.4 billion in structured securities backed by Pool insurance furnished by pm mortgage insurance co., a subsidiary of Sears Allstate insurance division. Conversion 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 $336.75 an ounce Silver at $4.08. Mav 5 May 6 British Pound.1.7839 1.7944 German mark.1.6380 1.6345 French franc.5.5265 5.5080 dutch guilder.1.8455 1.8422 belgian franc.33.73 33.63 italian lira.1,231.90 1,229.50 Swiss franc.1.5050 1.5070 greek drachma.193.08 192.57 turkish lira.6,623.00 6,624.80 saudi arabian riyal.3.7485 3.7489 Spanish peseta.103.04 102.62 portuguese escudo.137.73 136.71 Canadian dollar.1.1915 1.1949 austrian schilling.11.5620 11.5250 norwegian Krone.6.4120 6.3980 danish Krone. 6.3575 6.3285 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rates apply to the Sale of German Marks and British pounds to . Personnel for personal use and these will be 1.59 Marks to a Dollar and $1.83 for a Pound through thursday based on wednesdays noontime Price fixings. New York Exchange new York up York Stock Exchange Stock the 15 moot Active stocks in new composite trading on tuesday. Seise last net Chi. Glaxo holdings 3,419.900 27 up 0ff% Saatchi Saatchi 2,489,600 1% Ford motor co 2,262,700 44% unch ism corp 2,039,900 937/h up 1% Ptiip Morris 1,684,900 79 up ban America 1,639,700 47% up off % Pepsico inc 1,638,300 36% Amer express co 1,614,200 22% up a Wal Mart stores 1,531,900 52 up % off % Boeing co 1,490,800 42% limited inc 1,464.900 23% up % Sears Roebuck 1,442,900 43% off Chase Manhattan 1,432,400 26% Oft a a chemical Bank 1,374,700 37% up % at amp to company 1,370,600 44 up % american Exchange new York up american Stock exc. Stack am exploration Echo Bay mines Wang labs inc b a Zacory us Bio science ind Corona Chambers Dev a foundation hath Elan corp pc Nabors Industry a the 10 most Active stocks in Ange composite trading tuesday. Seles last net chg. 825,900 2v up a 541,800 5% up % 439,200 3% up 402,900 44% up 1 395,900 11% up 350,400 4 up 3-16 321,000 6% up % 290,100 29% up 269,600 48% up 1 % 210,700 6% up % Dow Jones new York up tuesday 30 industrials 20 transport 15 Siimes 65 stocks Dow Jonet doling Range of avenges a Lek Lew com change 3393 78 3346.15 3359.35 0 118.78 1409.75 1373.13 1394.25 1 13.46 214 95 211 07 213.82 up 1.63 1207 79 1186.05 1196.02 10.65 upswing in car sales no sign recession Over analysts say Detroit apr a spurt in vehicle sales late last month boosted Industry Hopes but analysts said the gain stopped Short of a recovery from the two year recession. Sales of North american built cars and trucks jumped 18.5 percent during the 10 Days ended april 30, compared with depressed sales of the same period a year ago. For the month vehicle sales increased 8.3 percent including imports. Late april sales of North american cars Rose 6.9 percent. Trucks were up 22.5 percent led by the second strongest sales period for Chrysler  mint vans and Ford motor  continued Strong sales of work trucks and sport Utility vehicles. A sales have shown Little movement since last september but we remain convinced that the recovery in the Economy which is very real will soon make an appearance in the Auto Industry a said Tom Webb chief economist for the National automobile dealers association. However if the sales rate does no to move up soon analyst Ron Glantz of Dean Witter Reynolds inc. In san Francisco said he will again lower his estimate for total vehicle sales for the year. Auto executives already have backed off earlier Rosy estimates for recovery. A four month surge in truck sales seemed to come at the expense of some car sales some observers said. A in the truck area we re continuing to see these vehicles As substitutes for passenger cars a said analyst John Kirnan of Kidder Peabody amp co. In new York. Kirnan said Low mileage used cars originally sold by the big t free to rental companies Are competing with new cars. Automakers have been trying to Cut Back on the number of so called a program cars that eventually reach used car lots. Nine of the 10 major . Automakers reported Selling cars and trucks at an average daily rate of 38,311, compared with 34,133 in the year ago period. The daily rate was still More than 3,300 vehicles below the 1990 sales rate. Chrysler had the greatest bulge in sales according to an estimate of its 10 Day results compared with actual monthly numbers released by the company. Combined car and truck sales were up an estimated 69.9 percent in the period the beginning of a Sale on an options package for its popular minivans. General motors corp. Reported 10.7 percent higher car sales and 20.8 percent higher truck sales in the period. Year to Date car sales Are up 3 percent and truck sales up 5.8 percent. Ford car sales edged up 5.5 percent in the period while truck sales jumped 20.8 percent. For the year car sales arc up 2.4 percent and trucks 16 percent. Among japanese companies building cars in the United states Mazda led with a 77.4 percent surge. That was credited to heavy incentives on Mazda a two .-built cars that Are being replaced by redesigned models this Spring. For the period the big three had 20.9 percent higher sales compared with a 6.7 percent increase for the japanese transplants. For All of april big three sales were up 11.7 percent against 2.2 percent for the japanese. New Day Hopes to Cut Force 10% by Alex s. Jones the new York times new York a new Day announced tuesday that it would seek to reduce its total work Force by about 10 percent by offering enhanced Severance pay to up to 300 employees who Volunteer to resign. Chiara Coletti a spokeswoman for the newspaper said the Cost reduction had been prompted by the depressed Economy on Long Island which has significantly weakened advertising. Quot we believe the �?T90s will not equal the �?T80s, even when a rebound occurs and we re trying to be As realistic As possible a Coletti said. A this is a measure we re taking to continue avoiding More drastic  since january 1990, new Day has reduced its work Force to 3,000 from about 3,300 through attrition and an Early retirement plan. Last summer the paper offered voluntary unpaid furloughs to employees in an Effort to reduce costs without layoffs. The newspaper is offering a Severance package of eight weeks base pay plus 2vi weeks base pay for each year of service up to a total of 60 weeks base pay. Some health insurance is also part of the package. The Severance package will first be offered to 282 circulation employees who oversee the Long Island editions Home delivery operation. Coletti said the paper was restructuring its circulation department which was established years ago to oversee a delivery Force made up mostly of children who delivered the paper in the afternoon. In recent years new Day has shifted to Early morning Home delivery by adult carriers who need less supervision. Coletti said that Home delivery employees would have until june 22 to Volunteer for the program and that the papers target for this group was about 200 positions. From june 1 to july 15, the papers other employees in All departments of news Day a editions on Long Island and in new York City would be allowed to Volunteer. Asked what will happen if the target of 300 jobs is not reached Coletti said Quot i done to want to  new jobs Are hard to find in ., economists say Washington apr the apparent end of the longest recession since world War ii has left 9.2 million unemployed americans with slim chances of quickly finding a Job. Only two major sectors a health care services and local government a have taken on sizable numbers of new workers since the Economy hit Bottom in april 1991. A although there has been some growth in the Economy it just Hasni to translated into any jobs a said William Buechner senior economist with Congress joint economic committee. Even those Lucky enough to find jobs May be in for a Surprise said Richard Belous senior economist for the National planning association a research group whose advice is sought by government business and labor. A the jobs Are in the service sector and if you were working in manufacturing construction or mining and have to go to work in services you re not going to be paid what you used to get a he said. During the 12 months ending in March the goods producing parts of the Economy a manufacturing mining and construction a lost 300,000 jobs. Services gained 450,000, including 325,000 in health. The government gains were in cities and counties. Jobs in health care will continue to grow Belous said. But he said he sees cause for concern in a forecast that the entire service sector a which Over the past few years has acted As a safety valve for workers who lost their manufacturing and construction jobs a will grow More slowly. The nations business leaders see the jobs picture brightening. They cite a Bureau of labor statistics Survey showing 25 of the 54 major Industry sectors increased employment in february the latest month for which Complete figures Are available. Business Kraft will trim 1,000 . Jobs to Cut costs As sales slump from wire reports Glenview Iii. A Kraft general foods inc. Said tuesday that it will Cut 1,000 salaried jobs from . Operations As part of a restructuring program begun last year to Cut costs in the face of tumbling sales. The giant food maker said it offered Early retirement to 1,200 employees and expects most of the Job cuts to come through that program and attrition. Some jobs May be eliminated outright to reach the 1,000-Job target said Kraft spokesman Michael Mudd. The cuts would reduce krafts salaried work Force in North America by about 5 percent. Kraft a subsidiary of Philip Morris cos. Inc., employs 20,6 h salaried and 51,400 hourly workers in North America. Canadians of aspartame use Deerfield Iii. A the Canadian government has approved aspartame for use in baked goods opening up a new category of foods for the Low calorie sweetener the Nutrasweet co. Said tuesday. Nutrasweet is seeking similar approval from government food regulators in the United states where it has a monopoly on aspartame sales. The approval by Canadas health Protection Branch applies to aspartame that is formulated to resist breaking Down under High temperatures Nutrasweet said in a statement