European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 25, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters monday april 25, 1994today�?Ts rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell foreign currencies to . Personnel for personal use British Pound. 1.53dutch Guilder. 1.84 German Mark. 1.65greek drachma 241.5826 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 he regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign currencies austrian Schilling 11.9045 Bahrain Dinar 0.37675 belgian franc. 34.81 British Pound. 1.4885 Canadian Dollar 1.3775 danish Krone 6.636 dutch Guilder. 1.9024 French franc. 5.78 German Mark. 1.6824 italian lira. 1,619.50 Kuwait Dinar 0.2973 norwegian Krone. 7.3375 portuguese escudo 173.10 saudi rial 3.7499 Spanish peseta 137.57 Swiss franc 1.4365 turkish lira. 29,000.00 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $372.85 an ounce Silver quote $5.22 an ounce sources merchants National Bank amp Trust co., the associated press United press International Rise in . Interest rates has t slowed shoppers yet car Home buyers ignore slight hikes new network not just talking about gab est Chicago up faced with the Prospect of possibly 500 Cable channels the management of a new network is betting on americans love of talk. The company that controls Abc and its financial sister Cnoc is planning a new network with All 24 hours of programming devoted to talk shows. The new network americans talking takes its Cue from cab cd a successful news talk format at a vice president of programming Beth Tilson said Friday. A with Cnoc we be proven a Niche for business and talk a a Tilson said. A a there san appetite for More news and entertainment based  Tilson said her Market research shows that people have hit a saturation Point with the talk shows currently on Televik sign. According to one of their surveys 55 percent of Chicago a residents say they want less sex politics and economics on talk shows and More discussion of health lifestyle issues or interviews with entertainers and personalities. The new network whose programming is closely guarded will air 14 hours of live programming. Tilson said the individual shows will vary. She conceded that the saturation Point could doom the new network but said there is a commitment to make the pro. Jet work including lavish state of the Art studios in fort Lee . A in by  be pouring resources into this if it did no to hmm it would work Tilson said. A the Niche is out there. Al talk does no to  to ensure the new network gets publicity at has devised a marketing scheme. The network is offering a one year $75,000 contract to an Amateur. That Amateur will be determined in a nationwide contest by stepping in front of a video camera and demonstrating his or her talk show skills. The entrants can make their videotapes at Home or they can demonstrate their skills at highly publicized locations in 10 american cities. By Rick Gladstone the associated press new York a its now costlier than just a few months ago to get a mortgage finance a new car borrow against the value of your Home and shop with a credit card.  ./. A. A v. A \ the reason is that interest rates the Price lenders charge for borrowed Money have been rising since Early february after falling for five years a tidal shift engineered by the Federal Reserve Board. The nations Central Bank has said higher rates Are needed to arrest the potential for higher inflation the syndrome of Price spirals that historically has followed rising Prosperity in the Economy. But hold on. Are higher rates getting painful Are legions of Home buyers scrapping plans because they can to afford the monthly payments Are showroom dealers lamenting Over unsold lot Fuls of cars and trucks Are higher borrowing costs hurting corporate profits and discouraging expansion plans not yet at least. Sales of cars and Homes have been surging. Consumers Are generally More optimistic. Most businesses Are making More Money than they did a year ago judging from the latest spate of quarterly earnings reports. The Rise in interest rates is not Only slight but remains largely an abstraction outside the world of the financial markets. Moreover forecasters say it would take a much higher Spike in rates Over a much longer period to Lead to a recession of even a significant economic slowdown. A a it a going to take time for higher rates to negatively influence the Economy a said David Lereah chief economist at the mortgage Bankers association a Washington Trade group. It took years for the tonic of lower interest rates to help the Economy recover from the 1990-91 recession by making borrowing and spending More affordable. Conversely Lereah said in the feds Effort to control inflation a the same thing is going to happen when rates Are going up. A a a a a a. A a a a a a. That does no to mean the Impact of higher rates Hasni to been noticed. For Consumers perhaps the most visible Arena of influence is in Home lending where fewer people May want to shop for mortgages As those get More expensive. Ash associates a financial publishing company in Butler ., that tracks mortgage trends said a 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate averaged 8.67 percent last week is. 7.08 percent just before the Federal Reserve began nudging rates up in Early february. Home building has shown Only faint signs of weakness from higher interest rates. By tulle for a $100,000 mortgage that translates into $781 a month is. $671 a month or $110 a month More in payments. Most lenders say monthly payments cannot exceed a third of your Gross income a which Means you need an extra $330 a month or an extra $3,960 a year in Gross income at the higher rate. A it certainly can put a crimp in your ability to qualify. That can make a considerable difference a said Keith t. Gumbinger an Ash associates analyst. A every Rise in rates cuts some portion of the Market  Home building one of the industries most sensitive to interest rates and a barometer of future economic activity has shown faint signs of weakness from these higher rates As Well. Last week for example the Commerce department said housing starts Rose 12.1 percent in March compared with february a solid Advance. Still a Survey by the National association of Home builders a Trade group showed nearly half the respondents thought higher rates had Hurt the Pace of expansion the biggest Impact is in mortgage refinancing another Boom Industry for lenders during the Low rate Era. Refinancing have dropped sharply because of rising rates which undercut savings from exchanging an old mortgage for a new one. A unless your present mortgage rate is nearly 11 percent you probably wont save Money refinancing a said Robert Heady publisher of the Bank rate Monitor a weekly newsletter about interest rates based in North Palm Beach Fla. Higher rates also have begun to affect credit cards Auto Loans and Home equity credit lines a Bank Loans based on the value of your Home. These rates adjusted quarterly and sometimes monthly Are based on the prime lending rate a Benchmark Bank rate which Rose from 6 percent to 6.25 percent March 23 and to 6.75 percent last week. So far however the Impact has been slight. Bank rate monitors Index of Home equity Loans for example has shown Only a marginal rate increase since the first increase in the prime rate from 7.14 percent to 7.17 percent. Credit card rates Are relatively High anyway a the National average has been in the 16 percent Range compared with 17 percent a year ago. A Rise of half a percentage Point does no to add More than a few dollars in monthly interest paid on a $2,000 balance. Some credit card analysts say the Competition is so fierce that rival issuers might be reluctant to raise rates much further fearing they would lose business. Many Consumers have become More educated about credit cards Over the past few years and know How to shop for them. A an increase in interest rates is certainly possible but its certainly going to be a tougher sell a said James Daly editor of credit card news a Trade publication in chicag trims service to Russia China Seattle up Alaska airlines sharply reduced its service Friday to the russian far East and discontinued its 1994 tour program to Russia and China. A frankly a constant barrage of negative publicity about Russia much of it unwarranted has hindered tour sales a said Bill Mcknight vice president of marketing. A but the decision became obvious if not easy when we were recently in formed that a supplier would be unable to assure the Domestic air service within Russia that we depend on to conduct each of those Tours a Mcknight said. The airline has Cut the number of weekly flights from Anchorage to the russian far East from four to two. However business travellers bound for Magadan Khabarovsk and Vladivostok will now be Able to leave on monday and be Home by the end of the week a new feature under the revised flight schedule. Five tour packages to the russian far East were cancelled. Each included International flights on Alaska airlines two nights on the trans siberian Railroad travel on Domestic carriers within Russia and China and a variety of ground accommodations. Seattle based Alaska airlines began service to the soviet Union in 1990, before the country broke apart