European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 24, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Money matters saturday september 24,1994 of today s rates following Are fixed rates a which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use British Pound. 1.62 dutch Guilder. 1.69 German Mark. 1.51 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 rate that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies " -. Austrian Schilling. 10.8780 Bahrain Dinar. 0.37697 belgian franc. .31.93 British Pound. 1.5820 Canadian Dollar. 1.3457danish Krone. 6.0690 dutch Guilder. 1.7180 French franc. 5.2760german Mark. 1.5431 greek drachma. 234.19italian lira 1 ,561 Kuwait Dinar. 0.29690 norwegian Krone. 6.7785portuguese escudo. 157.95 saudi rial. 3.7504spanish peseta. 128.10 Swiss franc. 1.2835 turkish lira 34,140 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $396.an ounce Silver quote $5,70 an ounce sources merchants National Bank & Trust co and the associated press new York Exchange new York a sales of the 15 most Active new thursday. Name. Kor motors nov care. Chrysler Degl tales re Nab entry scrod s. Ati corp Borden Gap. Gen motors blockbuster pm cups gun exec s pulp morals. Micton techs. Closing Price and net change York Stock Exchange issues volume 5.218,900 4,641,300 4,082,800 4,012,600 3.614.000 3,040,400 2,966,600. 2,893,300 2,459,900 2,419,600 2.418.100 2,376,800 2,309,900 2,181,800 2,171,400 last chg. 27 a 11w-3ft 44 to i 28v it 14 it 54. To 14vv. It 33% h .48 w 26 t it 19vi a 49 to58h 1 39 h american Exchange new York a sales closing Price and net change it the 10. Most Active american Stock Exchange issues thursday. Nam volume Lul chg. Viacom 1,152.000 35vt h Viacom it. 717,900 49/16 it Colum lab. 631,400. 4vi a Amdahl 539.300 it w Andrca i 476.400-232h Royal Oak. 470.500. 4hit Ivan up 469,600 19- h Echo Bay 427,200 t 3h a us bios i 402,900 7v h . 379,200 35/16 it Dow Jones new York a do Jones closing Range of aver Ages thursday. High 30 industrials 20 transport 15 utilities 65 stacks 3882.55 1527.70 178.88 Low 3818.29 1491,36 175.78 1300.40 127576 close change 3837.13 Oft 14.47 "1506.5.4. Up 5i98 176.97 up.13" 1284.47 ofl.93 rotes climb to 8.73% on fixed mortgages Washington a thirty year fixed rate mortgages averaged 8.73 per cent this week up from 8.66 percent last week according to a National Survey re leased thursday by the Federal Home loan mortgage corp. It was the highest since May 12, when the average was 8.77 percent. The aver age hit a 25-year Low of 6.74 percent in october. On one year adjustable rate Mort gages lenders were asking an average Ini tial rate of 5.56 Perci it up from 5.49 percent last week. The rates do not include add on fees known As Points. Grumman plans to slash Job Rolls by 8,650 los Angeles a Northrop Grumman corp. Will Cut its work Force by about one fifth or 8,650 jobs Over the next 15 months in a move announced just four months after the merger that formed the big weapons maker. The Job reductions disclosed thurs Day had been expected following the May combination of Northrop corp. And Bethpage  Grumman corp still it served As the most recent reminder of the struggles of the . Defense Industry since the end of the cold War. Northrop Grumman said it did no know How Many jobs would be lost through layoffs since the total will de Pend on attrition an Early retirement program and other voluntary reduction in Force programs at Grumman operations. ,.- the reduction of our work Force is painful but necessary step to reduce our a Milpitas Calif. A an Auto Plant that stood vacant for More than a. Decade has been transformed into a retail factory where car Assembly lines Are re placed by a circular Stream of shoppers eager for bargains. The great mall of the Bay area which opened thursday is one of the biggest off Price shopping centers in the  has More than 200 tenants mostly Dis count and outlet stores. But the Center is getting attention forbore than its 1.3 million Square feet of retail space and novel use of an old for motor co. Factory.  it illustrates the growing popularity of Dis count stores and factory outlets. People today and it does t Matte what level of wealth Are very conscious of value said Wayne Doran chief executive of Ford motor land development co. Y / Baktash Farzana 19, of Fremont agrees. Farzana and thousands of shop pers spent up to half an hour waiting to get into the parking lot before the mall opened and traffic remained snarled Sev eral hours later. Ford the majority partner in the $100 million redevelopment turned out 5 Mil lion cars and truck sat the Plant 37 Miles Southeast of san Francisco from 1955 to j983. We were looking for a Way to re Cre ate jobs. And at the same time use the building Doran said. About 2,200 peo ple were working at the mall which was 70 percent leased As of thursday. Up to 4,q 0 positions Are expected when All spaces Are filled. Ford and its partner Virginia devel oper Petrie Dierman Kughn project $350 million a year in sales. The mall is close to several major freeways and highways costs and position Northrop Gruntman corp. As a leaner streamlined company Kent Kresa Northrop Grumman s chair Man and chief executive officer said in a statement. Reductions in California Are expected to total about 4,150 workers including 700 by the end of 1994, the company said. About 3,500 jobs will be Cut at the com Pany s facilities on Long Island including 2,500 by the end of this year. A decline in business at the company s Vought operations in Dallas will result in the loss of about 600 jobs 100 by the end of this year the company said. The other400 Job cuts will be at smaller company plants across the country. Northrop Grumman also has facilities in Georgia Florida Illinois Massachusetts and West Virginia. It s happening to defense companies across the country said John Haldeman a scientist at Grumman s Bethpage facility for 17 years. There is no Way to pay salaries when the whole Industry is de Clining. There s Only so much business to go  Northrop Grumman currently employs47,500 people and produces the 2 stealth bomber fuselages for the f/18and the 2c surveillance plane among other defense equipment. The company resulted from a takeover Battle that Northrop won with a $2.17 billion bid for Grumman. The bid broke up a Friendly $1.93 Bil lion Deal Between Grumman and Martin Marietta corp. In making the jobs announcement Northrop Grumman cited the need to Cut costs and an ongoing Effort to streamline operations in the Wake of the costly merger,.-, / \ / shoppers Rush in through the Entrance of the great mall of the Bay area in Milpitas,Calif., during thursday s opening Day. The mall features More than 200 discount stores. The partners expect shoppers to come from throughout the san Francisco Bay area and beyond. Consumers Are increasingly turning to discounters stores Selling Many brands at prices below traditional department stores and outlets shops Selling one manufacturer s goods at reduced prices. Outlet sales have jumped from $6.3 Bil lion in 1990 to $9.9 billion last year said Dawn Frankfort consumer marketing director of value retail news in Clearwater fla., and editor of the Book the Joy of outlet shopping. Sales of $11 billion about 2 percent of All retail Are predicted for this year. Remodelling an old Auto Plant led to an unusual design feature. While most shop Ping centers Are in a line with branching sections the great mall is a Oval. It main corridor seven tenths of a mile around circles past supersized stores and Small shops. Some shoppers who otherwise praised the mall disliked the Oval corridor be cause there was no aisle cutting across the building. The mall has 210 current tenants about 150 of them Selling goods 20 per cent to 60 percent below retail. The eight existing anchors include marshalls superstore Burlington coat factory and Oshman s super sports Usa thed biggest with 85,000 Square feet. " research firm decries body shop standards by the new York times Franklin research and development the largest Independent firm to special ize in socially responsible investing which a few weeks ago sold its 50,000 shares of the body shop International on thursday joined the critics of the cosmetics Chain. Questions Over whether the body shop has lived up to its goals for environmental standards use of natural ingredients efforts to buy materials from indigenous people and fair treatment of franchisees have been raised this month in three journals. Certain recent criticism of the body shop is justified the report said. In 1991, Franklin awarded the com Pany its highest social rating thurs Day s report gave no rating. The rating is wiped out Joan Bavaria Franklin s president said. Anita Roddick body shop s founder said Franklin has a vested interest in taking a shot at  she pointed to positive reports issued on the body shop by three other investment firms. The company s share Price has fallen More than 20 percent during the sum Mer