European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 4, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday november 4, 1992 Money matters the stars and stripes b Page 17today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German mark.1.53 by Tylah Pound.1.58 dutch guilder.1.69 Greak drachma 193.2158 not them Abov apply within tha boat country. Figura Ara apr Aazaad in Dollar to tha British Pound  to tha Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign currencies italian lira .1,345.50 turkish lira .7,975.80 Spanish peseta.111.90 portuguese escudo.140.11 austrian Schilling .11.07 saudi rial.3.7495 Bahrain Dinar. 0.37675 Kuwait Dinar.0.2974 norwegian krone.6.405 danish krone.6.0348 British Pound .1.5515 German mark.1.563 Swiss franc .1.3965 French franc.5.314 dutch guilder.1.7575 belgian franc.32.22 Canadian Dollar .1.2418 Nota figure Ara expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $338.75 an ounce Silver quote $3.79 an ounce new York Exchange new York ufos the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on monday Stock atos last net chg. General motors 3,168,000 31 h up 1 i genl motors e 2,877,100 28 of Merck amp co inc 2.463,400 44 % up a a ism corp 2,316,100 68 up 2 tet Fonos de my 2,115,200 51 % Mph Philip Morris 1,968,100 77 up 1 time Warner inc 1,834,900 23 unch k Mart corp 1,632,700 27 up it Abbott labs inc 1,580,100 29 a a pvt Chrysler corp 1,533,700 27 i up % adv Micro docs 1,523,900 15 Oft a Union Carbide 1,497,400 14 or up i Cypress sem icon 1,458,600 10 i up 1 i Westinghouse Al 1,405,100 13 i up i Walt Disney co 1,388,800 40 up i american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading monday. Stock sales last net chg. Devon Energy 446,300 15 up1/# Horn amp hardart 397,400 2 a up i Glatfelter pm 325,600 19 i off 3 i Jan Bell mtg 307,500 19 up i first a storm 306,100 9 i off i Chambers Dev a 282,500 4 15-16 up 7-16 Hasbro inc 263,400 33 i up i Echo Bay mines 230,700 5 i unch Hel Lonclos inc 214,400 5 i up i Viacom inc b 190,400 33 i up % l Dow Jones new York up Dow Jones closing Range of averages monday High Low close change 30 industrials 3274.64 3211.42 3262.21 up 35.93 20 transport 1373.46 1341.43 1366.01 up 13.70 15 utilities 221.64 218.64 220.33 up 0.19 65 stocks 1180.19 1157.03 1174.73 up 10 71 pm Board picks new team to steer its recovery drive new York up general motors corp. Directors close director John g. Smale As chairman to succeed Robert c. Stempel on monday. They also elected pm president John f. Smith or. As chief executive officer with full responsibility for ending years of losses at the world s largest Industrial corporation. In keeping with its commitment to end the Haemorrhaging in Gmys Core automotive operations the Board slashed the regular quarterly dividend on pm common Stock to 20 cents a share from the previous quarters 40 cents a share. The new dividend will be paid dec. 10 to shareholders of record nov. 12. Outside directors had criticized the previous pm management team for failing to move expeditiously to Stop the losses which totalled More than $10.5 billion for the past 11 quarters. Stempel resigned last week under pressure from directors. He will retire from pm but agreed to serve As a special adviser to Smith for technical leadership and engineering. A Bob enjoys immense respect from the pm team and his technical and managerial experience will not be lost to us a Smith said. A that will be  the Board announced the retirement of three other senior officers a pm vice chairman Robert j. Schultz 62, who had responsibilities for pm Hughes electronics corp., electronic data systems corp. And corporate information management. A Lloyd e. Reuss 56, executive vice president in charge of new vehicles and systems. John g. Smalc elected monday As the chairman of Gmys Board says he is convinced that the giant corporation a is moving into a new Era of excellence a f. Alan Smith 61, executive vice president in charge of the corporate support group. All three were members of the pm Board. Smale said John Smith and the rest of the new pm management team a have the enthusiastic and unqualified support of the Board. A we arc confident this new team is the right leadership to take the reins at this critical juncture and we arc convinced pm is moving into a new Era of excellence a he said. Smalc 65, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Procter amp Gamble co., will serve As non executive chairman of the pm Board. Manufacturing new Homes help give Economy a boost Mcdonald s outlets serve up Magazine Oak Brook 111 a customers eating cribs or egg Mcduffins at some Mcdonald a restaurants now also can read Mcmay. The company says it is testing the free Glossy Magazine at some 500 of the company a 8,850 . Outlets in Orlando i la. Denver Milwaukee Portland Ore. Newburgh . And Chicago a Western suburbs. Washington up construction spending in september made its biggest climb in five months strengthened by gains in Home building As mortgage rates Hung at 19-year lows the Commerce department said. And in another upbeat report the National association of purchasing management said monday that the manufacturing sector resumed growth in october after a one month decline in september. The Commerce department said construction spending expanded 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $428.5 billion a better than a downwardly revised $422.8 billion in August As Public and private building swung upward. A the biggest Story is probably single family residential a said David Seiders chief economist for the National association of Home builders in Washington. A a it a a big  new Home construction has increased two months in a Row rising a whopping 12.6 percent in August As mortgage interest rates fell during the summer to their lowest Levels since 1973. But Seiders warned that interest rates can prop the housing Industry Only so much. A a we need a better Job Market for any sustained activity a he said. The Commerce department said Overall private sector construction spending Rose 1.1 percent to $309 billion in september up from $305,7 billion. Residential buildings increased 1.6 percent to $189.2 billion. Non residential buildings a offices hotels churches hospitals and other commercial structures a edged up 0.1 percent to $80 billion. In its monthly report on the nations manufacturing Economy the National association of purchasing management said its much watched Index which fell to 49 percent in september Rose 1.6 percentage Points to 50.6 percent. The Nam Index one of the first indicators of the nations economic health in a particular month is a composite Index based on the seasonally adjusted indexes for five indicators a new orders production Vendor deliveries inventories and employment a with varying weights applied. A Reading above 50 percent indicates the Economy is generally expanding a Reading below 50 percent suggests it is generally contracting. Mercedes scraps new factory plans Stuttgart Germany a Mercedes Benz a maker of luxury cars and commercial vehicles said monday that it has shelved plans to build a factory in Eastern Germany. The company said in a statement that structural problems in Western Europe struck Industry and Low demand in the foreseeable future made plans to build the factory  the estimated Cost was about $650 million. Original plans said the factory which was to be located in Ahrensdorf was to employ up to 4,000 people and produce up to 40,000 vehicles by 1994.foreigners join bidding for airline Houston a Continental airlines has attracted formal bids from two investor groups but a third bidder decided it would not make an offer for the troubled Carrier. Air Canada and acro Mexico said they made their bids in tandem with . Investors seeking to satisfy Federal Laws limiting the stake a foreign company can hold in a Domestic airline. Lufthansa German airlines which had shown an interest in making a bid for the Houston based Carrier with los Angeles businessman Marvin Davis dropped out of the running monday Continental officials would not say How Many potential investors submitted offers in time for the monday deadline. Air partners a combination of air Canada and fort Worth investors James Coulter and David Bonderman entered a $425 million bid spokesman Owen Blicksilver said. He would not release other details of the offer. Aero Mexico joined with Houston businessman Charles Hurwitz to make a bid monday. But they would not divulge its Price