European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 18, 1992 Money matters the stars and stripes Page 17�? today a rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell foreign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark.1.51 British Pound.1.63 dutch guilder.1.69 greek drachma .201.0848 note the rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign currencies italian lira .1,395.50 turkish lira.8,268.40 Spanish peseta.110.75 portuguese escudo.138.78 austrian schilling.10.935 saudi rial.3.7501 Bahrain dinar.0.37675 Kuwait dinar.0.2993 norwegian krone.6.66 danish krone.5.993 British Pound.1.5875 German Mark .1.547 Swiss franc .1.3905 French franc.5.2868 dutch Guilder .1.749 belgian franc.31.95 Canadian Dollar.1.2774 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $337.75 an ounce Silver quote $3.76 an ounce new York Exchange new Vork up a the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stork Exchange composite trading on wednesday. Stock sales last net chg. T  26,816,800 2 up ism corp 13,413,700 517/a off 4 i global Marine 4,139,300 2vi unch Rwjr Nabisco hid 3,835,600 8% unch Philip Morris 3,708,100 76% off % Amer express co 2,614,800 24% up % general motors 2,228,900 32% up Boeing co 1,934,100 34% unch safety Kleen 1,749,600 24% off 6% Ford motor co 1,696,800 40% off Crompton Knowls 1,655,300 20% off % Gerber products 1,626,000 29% off Glaxo holdings 1,624,400 24 % off at amp to company 1,601,500 48% up % Compaq computer 1,544,400 43 up % american Exchange new York up a the 10 most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading wednesday. Stock sales last net chg. Bradley Riest 1,229,600 7% off % Echo Bay mines 839,800 5 up % Hill Haven corp 812,300 3 5-16 off 3-16 Amdahl corp 706,900 7 unch Rhone Poul evil 462,400 3% up 13-16 expo rate co la 339,800 1 % off % citizens St be 283,900 4 15-16 up % us Blo science 276,600 11 off % epitome inc 275,800 18% off % Champion enters 263,800 8% up % Dow Jones new York up a Dow Jones closing Range of averages wednesday High Low close change 30 industrials 3303.00 3238 70 3255.18 off 29.18 20 transport 1412.34 1389.78 1397.23 off 4.84 15 utilities 220.71 218.45 219.70 up 0.50 65 stocks 1195.04 1174.78 1180.97 off 6.51buyers now can shop with air plane phones Washington a technology is providing last minute Holiday shoppers with a Way to buy gifts literally on the Fly. Get is offering free Calls on its inflight telephones to sky mall inc., which puts gift Cata logs in the seat pockets of air planes. Passengers need Only to press a Speed dial Button on the air one and order merchandise for delivery directly to the appropriate party or pickup at the Airport Hen the plane lands. The airlines providing the service Are Continental Delta Twa and United. Ford to slash 10,000 jobs in ailing european Market Detroit apr Ford motor co. Plans to take charges of nearly $7.7 billion against 1992 earnings mostly to account for future Retiree health benefits. The no.2 automaker also said it will Lay off 10,000 workers in its Money losing european operations. Ford said wednesday that it would take a one time $7.5 billion charge to account for the anticipated health costs to comply with a new bookkeeping Rule requiring Public companies to account for the expenses now rather than As they Are paid. There will also be a charge of $440 million or 91 cents a share to pay for those benefits this year. The 10,000 Job cuts amount to More than 10 percent of Fords european work Force of 93,000. The cuts acknowledge Fords earlier statements that it expects Europe s Economy to Worsen before it improves. A Europe to Ford is almost As bad As North America is to general motors Quot said Ronald Glantz an Auto Industry analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds inc. In san Francisco. Quot sales Are heading Down and the japanese Are invading the  unlike Fords record $2.3 billion loss in 1991, this years loss projected to hit about $7 billion does not reflect weakness in the company a . Business or its Overall financial condition. Ford will still have a net Worth Between $15 billion and $16 billion. Fords european losses totalled $479 million in the third Quarter better than the $560 million loss in the third Quarter of 1991. Ford has a projected fourth Quarter loss in Europe of about $732 million. That figure includes a $419 million charge or about 87 cents a share to pay for the costs of laying off the european workers plus $110 million of $440 million for the Retiree health care charge this year. Ford announced the charges after the new York Stock Exchange closed wednesday when its common shares fell 62v> cents to $40.75. Traders on the floor of the new York Stock Exchange react to the heavy Selling wednesday afternoon. Ism Stock keeps falling Chicago up a Duff amp Phelps inc. Downgraded its rating on International business machines senior debt wednesday As ism Stock continued to nose dive on the new York Stock Exchange. Ism whose Stock hit a 10-year Low tuesday fell an additional $4,625 in heavy trading wednesday to close at $51.50. It was the second most Active Issue on the Exchange. Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial average which fell 7.84 Points tuesday plunged 29.18 Points to 3255.18 on wednesday. The computer giants Stock began plunging tuesday after ism said it would slash an additional 25,000 jobs and Post a $6 billion charge to cover costs of the downsizing. Duff amp Phelps said wednesday that following a review of in my a prospects it had decided to downgrade ratings on about $14.5 billion of the Blue chips senior  show gain on men in 92 wages new York apr women a wages gained on menus this year but for the wrong reasons according to working woman Magazine. Women a wages jumped to 75 percent of menus during the first three quarters of 1992, the Magazine said in its january Issue. But the reason for the Rise was that menus wages dropped faster Thau women a did a not because women a wages went up. More revealing was the magazines finding that women earned 70 cents for every Dollar earned by men in 1991, Down from 72 cents in 1990. The Magazine also named the 20 Best paid women in corporate America. The list was topped by Turi Josef san who in 1991 earned $23.6 million including bonuses and exercised Stock options As executive vice president at us surgical corp. Second on the list is Rena Rowan executive vice president for design at Jones apparel group who earned $6.01 million. She was followed by Linda j. Wachner chairman and chief executive at the Warnacot apparel company who earned $3.08 million. Lynn Povich the magazines editor in chief said the wage Gap Between men and women widened in 1991 because retail and finance two Fields that employ Many women got hit by layoffs last year. Male dominated industries such As manufacturing suffered the bulk of their layoffs in previous years Povich said. Although the 1991 figures show that Overall the wage Gap widened it narrowed for younger women who enter the Job Field with better education and skills the Magazine said. Women Ages 24 to 35 earned 80 cents for every Dollar earned by men of the same age. The 1991 data Mark the magazines 14th annual Survey of women a wages. The Survey is drawn from . Bureau of labor statistics figures and supplemented with interviews with economists women a studies experts and personnel officers. The Magazine lists 10 Job categories in which the wage Gap has narrowed significantly since 1983 secretaries Bill collectors social welfare clerks clothing graphic furniture Kitchen and toy designers mechanics and repairers police firefighters and guards personnel training Ana labor relation specialists Bank tellers proofreaders and statistical clerks mathematical and computer scientists purchasing agents and buyers and Public relations specialists. Credit card use up this year for Holiday season new York a shoppers Are using credit cards at checkouts More frequently this Holiday season than last leading to a Steep increase in charge volume from last year. Increased consumer Confidence Holiday credit card promotions lower interest rates and growing usage at grocery stores Are contributing to the increased volume Industry executives and analysts said. Visa International on wednesday reported that charge volume a the value of All goods and services purchased with its cards a totalled $16.8 billion Between thanksgiving and dec. 14. That was an increase of 16.5 percent from the comparable period in 1991. Mastercard International reported $2.4 billion in charges for the first week of december up 20.3 percent from the previous year. American express said its retail charge volume gained 16.5 percent in november compared with a 4 percent gain in 1991. Card interest rates averaged 17.98 percent in october Down nearly 1 percentage Point from the year earlier according to ram research inc. Of Frederick md., which follows the Industry