European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Money matters Friday january 14,1994 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 German Mark. 1.70 British Pound 1.53 dutch Guilder 1.89 greek drachma 242.8774 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. 1,691.75 turkish lira. 14,777.10 Spanish peseta. 143.60 portuguese escudo 175.00 austrian Schilling 12.2095 saudi Royal 3.7495 Bahrain Dinar. 0.37675 kuwaiti Dinar 0.2981 norwegian Krone .7.503 danish Krone 6.73 British Pound 1.5005 German Mark 1.7385 Swiss franc 1.4607 French franc 5.91 dutch Guilder. 1.9453 belgian franc 36,25 Canadian Dollar 1.3213note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $384.75 an ounce Silver quote $5.06 an ounce new York Exchange new York up York Stock Exchange Stock Tel Fonos do my general motors Amer express co Westinghouse a Etc corp worry go round Citicorp pop Nat sell conduct Ford motor up. Wal Mart stores us surgical co Merck & co in Citicorp at to company Chrysler corp the 15 most Active stocks in new composite trading on wednesday. Salei tit Natch �. 4,768.200 66vi unch 3.967,500 59v4 Oft a "3,954,700 30tt off 3.880,300 13% off 3,738,100 19tt up i 3,718,400 1v4 off to 3,208,800 19tt unch3,124,300 18v4 putt 2,651,610 67tt off �42,561,500 25 w unch 2,479,200 26ft up m 2,462,000 36h off v4 2,457,300 38tt unch 2,403,700 54v Offutt 2,394,500 59 off american Exchange new York up american Stock Exchange Stock Royal Oak mines Echo Gay mines Energy service circa Phantis inc Hanover direct atari corp dog icon inc Hasbro inc Enzo Bochem Thermo Power up the 10 most Active stocks in composite trading wednesday. Salts 576,700 452.500 449,900 322,500300,400 297,200 296.200 281,100 267,700 264,200 Tail 4% 14 35-16 27-16 18h Natch. Off /4 off off 1-16 ,up1v4unch unc Hunch. Up Vii pvt Offutt Dow Jones new York up Dow Jones closing Range of averages on wednesday High Low Closa Changa 30 industrials 3876.493809.793848.63 off 1.68 20 transport 1834.16 1802.21 1822.37 up 10.08 15 utilities 224.16 220.27 222.58 up 0.39 65stocks 1419.21 1394.67 1409.40 up 2.60 used car sales hit 12-year Low in Japan Tokyo up sales in Japan of used cars trucks and buses in 1993 hit a 12-year Low of 5.26 million units a drop of 1.5 percent from the year before the Japan automobile dealers association said thursday. The figures followed an announcement last week that new vehicle sales hit a six year Low of 4.89 million units a drop of 4.34 percent from 1992. The association attributed the drop in the used vehicle sales to a growing ten Dency for car owners to keep their vehicles longer. . Firms regaining Edge in innovation experts say new York a Thomas Edison would be proud. For the first time since 1985, an Amer ican company ism ranks first in inventiveness winning the most patents from the . Government in 1993. In addition Eastman Kodak co. Climbed to fourth on the list. Experts in International Competition say the new rankings Are the latest Indi cation that . Innovation has cracked Japan s seemingly indomitable Lead this is significant. This Means that the United states is Back in the race to compete effectively in the global mar Ket said Douglas lament professor of International business at Northwestern University in Evanston 111. Japanese companies still hold six out of the top 10 positions for the second year in a Row according to if plenum data corp., a research company based in Wilmington n.c., that released the Fig ures wednesday. They had held the top four spots As recently As 1992, according to if plenum data. The inventiveness surge at International business machines corp., a tarnished Symbol of us. Competitiveness itself was viewed As a breakthrough. Ism said its 1,088 patented invention last year up 28 percent from 851 . Patents awarded in 1992, when it ranked no. 6. The inventions included High repetition lasers a folding computer key Board and an environmentally Safe sol retail sales Washington a purchases of autos and Home related goods pushed re Tail sales up for the ninth consecutive month in december and gave stores in 1993 their biggest sales increase since be fore the recession. Sales Rose 0.8 percent last month to seasonally adjusted $180.6 billion the Commerce department said thursday. For the year they were up 6.2 percent to $2.08 trillion. That followed a 4.8 percent Rise in 1992 and a scant 0.9 percent increase in the recession year of 1991. It marked the biggest annual Advance since 1989. In another shot of Good news the gov most inventive firms companies with the most new .patents in 1993, with .1993 rank company name number of patents company s major businesses country and 1992 rank 1. Ism 1,088 computers  62. Toshiba corp.-1,064 consumer electronics Japan 2.3. Canon corp. -1,039 cameras copiers Japan 1.4. Eastman. Kodak co. 1,008 cameras film electronics . 7.5. Hitachi Ltd. 949 electronics machinery chemicals Japan 4.6. Mitsubishi electric corp. 944 electric machinery Japan 3.7. General electric co. 942 electronics defense . 5.8. Motorola inc. 731 semiconductors telecommunications . 8. 9. Matsushita electric Industrial co. 722 electronics entertainment Japan 10.10. Fuji photo film co. 634 film japan9. 7l- =. ". A event. Many of the new patents were for software related inventions. Kodak had 1,008 patents last year compared with 778 in 1992, when it ranked no. 7. The photographic and electronics company based in Rochester n.y., said its inventions included a new photographic film layer that improves picture Quality and a medical testing technique that allows easier detection of diseases. Japan came to dominate the list . Patents in the last decade by steadily beating . Companies with advances in semiconductors supercomputers and other High technology products. But As the japanese Economy faltered in. The 1990s, . Companies fought Back with More efficient research and gains in productivity. In 1992, for example . Semiconductor makers retook the Lead in Chip production for the first time in eight years. And in a defeat for japanese com Puter Leader corp., its major Domestic competitors have started Selling ism compatible computers. Toshiba America inc., the . Head quarters of Tokyo based Toshiba corp., said through a spokesman that it did not regard the Patent ranking As significant and that it was proud of coming in Sec Ond on the list for the second year in a row.-. ". " we Don t regard the ranking of the number of patents awarded As a kind of International Competition said Ken Ishihara a spokesman for the new York based unit of Toshiba the giant consumer electronics company. A spokesman at Canon corp., a Cam Era and copier maker that slipped from no. 1 to no. 3, did not immediately re turn a phone Call. Ern ment said consumer prices edged up 2.7 percent in 1993, the smallest gain i seven years As falling Energy and tobacco prices and the lowest increase in medical costs in two decades helped restrain inflation the government said thursday. Retail sales Rose 12.4 percent at Auto dealers in 1993, 10.7 percent at furniture stores 9.8 percent at building Supply and hardware stores and 7.3 percent at Gener Al merchandisers such As . Consumer spending spurred by the lowest interest rates in two decades helped Power the recovery which began Lack of variety a customer in a downtown supermarket in Belgrade Yugoslavia on wednesday buys Yogurt the Only item on Sale. Record inflation of More than 1 million percent for de Cember and Lack of profits have forced Many companies to Stop production. Yugoslavia is suffering from the effects of the . Embargo imposed in May 1992 for supporting serbian rebellions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 6 in 1993 slowly in 1993 but gathered steam during the second half. The labor department said the Rise in its consumer Price Index followed Moder ate increases of 2 9 percent in 1992 and 3.1 percent in 1991. It gave the country its Best three year inflation performance since themid-1960s. Given continued weakness in the . Job Market and a global Economy still struggling with recession analysts said they did not look for inflation to be a prob Lem in 1994. Some forecast that consumer prices May Rise at an even slower Pace than last year. Sacramento paper folds after 143 years Sacramento Calif. A the Sacramento Union newspaper which called itself the oldest daily in the West will cease publication today. It s a tragedy said reporter Joanne Boyd one of about 85 workers who will lose their jobs. But this is not unexpected. Most of us were waiting for the other shoe to  the newspaper was published daily from 1851 through october when it Cut Back to three Days a week in an Effort to survive. It is with great regret that we say we Are unable to save the newspaper and turn it around Ralph Danel whose family bought the newspaper in 1992, wrote in a front Page announcement wednesday. But deteriorating economic conditions a shrinking advertising base and other factors made this unhappy decision unavoidable he wrote. The Union was most successful in the 1960s, when its circulation hit 115,000. It was then owned by Copley newspapers inc., but has had a succession of owner since. Circulation had declined to 35,000, or less than 15 percent of the Sacramento Bee s circulation when the Union Cut Back to three times a week