European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 b the stars and stripes Money matters saturday february 27, 1993 today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use Gor Moln Fri Fork 160 British Pound 1.46 dutch Guilder 1.80 greek drachma 212.9681 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 Curren cies italian lira 1,589.70 turkish lira 9,169.80 Spanish peseta 117.96 portuguese escudo 151.05 austrian Schilling .11.5475 saudi rial 3.7495 Bahrain Dinar. 0.37675 Kuwait Dinar 0.307 norwegian Krone 7.0025 danish Krone 6.30 British Pound 1.4205 German Mark 1.644 Swiss franc 1.525 French franc 5.591 dutch Guilder 1.8472 belgian franc. 33.87 Canadian Dollar 1.2496 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $327.75 an ounce. Silver quote $3.56 an ounce. I new York Exchange new York up York Stock Exchange Stock Chrysler corp Philip Morris  utilities Merck & co inc ism corp Tucson elec per Home shopping Tel Fonos de my Glaxo Holdin Sabbott labs me Bristol Myersq Eastman Kodak at to company digital equal pm 28 the 15 most Active stocks in new composite trading on thursday. Site till  off Tunch unch unch up Aero i off Viup in Chuitt off /tup2vi unch 3.936,300 3,882,1003,293,600 2,901,900 2,863,7002,642,100 2,574,5002,432,100 2,350.100 2,257.6002,214,200 2,132,600 2,060,4001,893,000 1,613,100 38h 53v3 18v4 26h 57 /4 5356 48v american Exchange new York up the 10 most Active stocks i american Stock Exchange composite trading thursday. Soc Samdahl corp  Royal Oak mine fruit of loom exp Oral co a action in dusts Iva corp Echo Bay  comm silm971,600 660,700 647.900619,100 509,000 456,300 362,500359,300 335,500 307,300 iii8 31-166v4 25-1646h. 1% zvi24 v4 5v 8 Nitchel. Putt up up up 1-1 6 Uultt Oft 1-16up /4 unch off a putt Dow Jones new York. Up Dow Jones closing Range of averages thursday High Low Clou Ching 30 industrials. 20 transport 15 utilities 24067 237.61126082 1235.7865 stocks ig3387.02 3326.78 336514 up 8.64 1537.84 1436.55 1532.20 up 25.99 23961 1254.21 off 0.37 up 8.14 new jobless claims increase by 4,000 Washington a the number of americans filing initial claims for Job less benefits Rose slightly in mid february the first Advance in a month. New applications for unemployment insurance totalled 325,000 during the week that ended feb. 13, up from 321,000 a week earlier the labor department reported thursday. But the in crease was about half of what was expected. The four week moving average of new claims fell to 334,500 from 343,500, the lowest level since september 19s9. Clinton meets with business labor leaders to sell his plan Bojil Dutt new Day Washington continuing his drive to win passage of his economic plan president Clinton called two dozen business and labor leaders to Washington on thursday to endorse his massive pack age of tax increases and spending shifts. At the same time those organizing to oppose the plan sharpened their arguments against it. We believe that the president has proposed an evenhanded plan that promises to reduce Federal spending and accomplish real deficit reduction said Rodwrick Cook chairman of Arco the giant Oil company based in los Angeles. Like most executives meeting at the old executive building next to the White House Cook stopped Short of unqualified support for every detail of the Clin ton plan. Cook said any Energy tax needed to be made As simple As possible. Opponents were not so gentle in their suggestions of How Clinton s plan should be changed. Jack Kemp Secretary of housing and Urban development in the Bush administration announced that he would Lead a Broad based Effort to defeat the proposed new taxes. We re not Here to beat the president. We re not Here to Bash the plan Kemp told reporters. This is to Start a debate about whether the government can raise taxes without stifling economic growth. Kemp s group called empower Ameri Ca will raise Money for an advertising Campaign and is forging alliances with More than 100 organizations. Other executives attending the meet ing included Citicorp chairman John Reed Salomon Brothers chairman Rob Ert Dunham and time Warner chairman Gerald Levin. President Clinton right and vice president Al Gore meet with business leaders in theold executive office building in Washington on thursday to discuss economic policy. Longtime Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron seeks new markets to remain afloat Bath Maine a Bath Iron works has been building ships for the Navy since the Days of gunboat Diplo Macy. Now the shipyard like other de sense contractors must scout out new markets to survive in the Post cold War Era. Maine s largest private employer just launched its fifth Aegis destroyer and has contracts Worth $2.4 billion to build 14 More it has enough work to keep 8,000 employees Busy through 1996. But with president Clinton calling for defense cuts even deeper than those pro posed by former president George Bush the shipyard knows it can no longer de Pend exclusively on military contracts the Way it has since 1984. Fundamental changes Are taking place around the world and in the unite states said big president Duane Fitzgerald. We need to make some structural  the Way we do our work. Business As usual won t do  Fitzgerald said the shipyard will always depend on the Navy but he wants a mix of Navy and commercial work to main Tain the Yard s work Force in the coming years. Fitzgerald has assembled a Globe Trot Ting team to seek out new markets. Possibilities include the Sale of warships to Turkey and other countries consulting work for nations that vant to build their own vessels and construction of commercial ships such As cruise liners tankers or ferries. Another possibility is no Marine work such As production of steel parts used i Bridges and windmills. Such projects Are promising but none alone will sustain the current work Force which is already Down from a Peak of 12,000 several years ago Fitzgerald said. The other major Yards Newport news shipbuilding & dry Dock co. In Virginia and Ingalls shipbuilding in Pascagoula miss. Also Are eliminating thousands of jobs. The Industry has lost More than 100,000 jobs Over the past dec Ade. Big s relationship with the Navy dates to the company s beginnings. The second vessel built in Bath was the gunboat Machias in 1893. It was part of Theodore Roosevelt s great White Fleet that sailed around the world. The shipyard also built fishing boats cargo ships passenger ferries coast guard cutters and even yachts. The Bath built Ranger won the America scup in 1937. But commercial markets dried up when former president Ronald Reagan eliminated subsidies that rewarded  companies for buying american mad ships. At the same time Reagan announced plans to expand toward a 600-ship Navy. Since then the shipyard has built Noth ing but state of the Art cruisers and destroyers for the Navy. Big s last com Mercial ship a 688-foot Tanker was delivered in 1984. Conversion and diversification have been the buzzwords of the defense Industry for several years now. Although breaking into commercial markets in t easy some companies have proved it s possible. Mark Bobbi a defense analyst with forecast International in Newtown,conn., pointed to Trimble navigation of California which is Selling its global positioning system on the commercial mar Ket. The hand held devices which use a satellite for pinpointing locations were used by soldiers during the persian Gull War. Pm Hughes which specializes in precision electronics radar and semiconductors is finding a Market in collision avoidance systems that will someday keep cars from getting too close to one another Bobbi said. For shipyards conversion in t so easy. Bath ironworks has specialized in High tech warships and there s nothing com parable on the commercial Market. Shipyard workers fear the worst. Dan Murphy a ship fitter from South Portland who has worked almost 15 years at the shipyard supports two sons and has another child on the Way. Even with the seniority i have 1m not fully secure said Murphy taking a break aboard the destroyer John Maui Jones at big s Portland dry Dock