European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Money matters Friday november 18,1994 �?1 today a rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell foreign currencies to . Personnel for personal use British Pound 1.61 dutch Guilder 1.68 German Mark 1.51 not the rate Bov pay nothing the Host country. A fluff a a of is a in Dollar to the Bokhui 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 a a. Austrian Schilling 10.8915 Bahrain Dinar 0.37699 .ae�eeaeaaiieeeeaeea#asai3ivtt3t a British Pound 1.5725 Canadian Dollar 1.3649 danish Krona 6.0483 Outch Guilder 1.7349 French Frano 5.322 Garman Mark 141494 greek drachma 23843 italian lira. 1,590.80 Kuwait Dinar .02988 norwegian Krone 8.7728 portuguese Acudo. 157.93 saudi rial3.7504 Spanish Seata. 128.89 Salaa franc. 1.3035 turkish lira. 35,900,00 not Flurr exp Meed in doll a to the British Pound Ott or cutt not a to a Dollar Odd Quot $386.40 an Oune. Slav quote 15.20 to nou Sourdaa merchant National Bank s Trust co. A and the associated Para c new York Exchange new York a the is most in was by. Mama re rib Cut Vitot telex aos old Leq at amp to corp Gen motor Wilmit Kmart . Amex Nti Finger tit Motorola i Houi tend for motor i Tow Opp n. A Silei 4p,m. Price end net Binge of e new York Stock Exchange Issue hading Toetama 8.132.900 5,630,600 4,500 100 4.043.100 3.375.100 3,374,400 2.684.700 2.667.700 -2,862,000 2.347.900 2,326,800 2,080,000 2,057,900 1,902,500 1,901,300 Lut Cha. 6ft Unchur 81 11 52u m 36 2 51h -1h 301 h 23h to 151 14 16 unch 311 unch 16 a 60h 1 321 a a 281 to 241 unch american Exchange i new York apr Sale dosing Price and net charge d the 10 most act the american Stock Exchange issues hiding nationally wednesday. Sam Bohrme Uit Cut. Waco Vit a. 2,550,500 15/161/16 week my 949,100 391 it new incan 567.000 261 1ft Royal Oak g 500,600. 3ft-1/18 enter Olgam. 490,900 3 -s/18 Elan add. 452,800 331 h acl Ltd. 380,400 1 unch sum Irvid 347.800 18 3% us a local 337,600 71 a i Cable Elumn. 332 500 7ft a it l Dow Jones j new York up a now Jones closing Range of aver see on wednesday a. High Lew tee Chang 30 industrials 3864.38 3603.82 3845.20 up 18 84 20 transport 1491,82 1474.36 1483.67 cd 0.70 15 utilities 177,76 175.72 176.64 Oft 0.20 s5 stocks 1286.28 1268.41 1279.47 up 3,13 Rockefeller Center owners in squeeze new York a a japanese controlled group that owns Rockefeller Center May default on its mortgage payments because the property in t bringing in enough rent Money documents show. Expenses including mortgage payments have exceeded Revenue for the landmark by about $300 million since 1989, when Mitsubishi estate first bought a 51 percent chunk of the property. Mitsubishi which now owns 80 percent of the Center and the Rockefeller family which owns 20 percent have had to subsidize the shortfall with their own Money. Rate hike unlikely to take the merry from Christmas new York a the latest Jolt in interest rates comes just As Consumers Are about to invade the malls for their Holiday shopping Binge. But fear of higher credit costs probably won t deter them from siding up to the checkout counter with plastic in hand because there Are so Many new Low rate credit cards out there Many shoppers feel they can easily afford to charge dads camcorder Ana the kids toys. A Christmas is Christmas a said j. Lee Boucher a Small business owner in Easton a. A people will spend if they feel comfortable about their jobs and i think they feet that right  credit card usage has already skyrocketed this year because Consumers Are More confident about the Economy and their finances. During the first nine months of the year Consumers charged $347 billion on their credit cards a 26 percent increase Over the same period last year according to ram research corp., a firm based in Frederick md., that tracks credit card Treijs. The Federal Reserve boards decision tuesday to raise two key Short term interest rates will mean that Consumers will pay More interest on their card borrowings. But experts said the increases Are Small and wont Dent card usage. The average cardholder with a $1,700 balance on a visa or Mastercard will pay an extra $13 next year because of tues Days rate increase the sixth this year. With the other five rate increases cardholders will pay $43 More in interest charges next year than they would have if the fed Hadnot raised rates. The fed raised the Benchmark rate Banks charge one another on overnight Loans from 4.75 percent to 5.50 percent and increased the discount rate a the interest it charges to make direct Loans to Banks a by 0.75 percentage Point to 4.75 percent. A most Banks responded by pushing their crime lending rates from 7.75 percent to .5 percent the highest level since Early 1991. Nearly 200 million of the 340 million visa and Mastercard in circulation have rates that Are linked to the prime Bank rate. But Consumers have some important advantages going for them. Competition has forced Many companies to offer Low rate cards or higher credit limits to entice customers to switch to a new card. Even though the prime rate has increased by 1,75 percentage Points since february the average annual percentage rate on credit cards has risen less than 1 percentage Point to 16.38 percent. Clinton aides work to eliminate gop concerns on Trade treaty Washington a with the Clinton administrations International prestige on the line incoming Senate majority Leader Bob Dole has become the Man to please in the Effort to enact a new world Trade Accord. And the administration is making it dear it will do what it can to satisfy Dole r-kan., who has raised three objections to legislation implementing the Accord negotiated under the auspices of the general agreement on tariffs and Trade. . Trade representative Mickey Kantor said he planned to meet with Dole and said the senators suggestions would be Quot considered  sen. Bob Packwood r-Ore., the incoming chairman of the Senate finance committee predicted Kantor would be Able to accommodate Dole. Dole has said he is predisposed to support Gatt and would prefer to do it this year during a session of the lame Duck democratic Congress. But Dole wants an administration commitment to support separate legislation Early next year that would strengthen the ability of the United states to withdraw from the Accord if its interests were harmed. Dole also wants to address a Deal giving three communications companies Jis counts on valuable licenses to develop the next generation of wireless Telephone systems. And he is concerned about a provision that eliminates the 4 percent minimum yield guaranteed on . Savings Bonds and replaces it with a floating minimum tied to Treasury Bill rates. President Clinton in a speech wednesday to . Business leaders in Jakarta Indonesia urged republicans to join with democrats to pass Gatt. Vice president a1 Gore said at a news conference wednesday in Washington arranged by big corporations supporting coming Senate majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas left discusses Republican see of amp Muon. A a news conference wednesday on Capitol Hill As sen. Don Nickles r the Accord a it is abundantly Clear that a delay of the Gatt would definitely kill the Gatt. And Hurt our country  incoming House speaker Newt Gingrich in a letter to Clinton renewed his pledge to work for a Large bipartisan majority for Gatt. But Gingrich r-ga., told reporters e remains a very concerned about g att prospects in the Senate and said the White House a needs to agree to concerns expressed by Dole. Because of budget rules the Gatt Bill must pass the Senate with at least 60 votes. Packwood said it would Clear that hurdle a handsomely a provided it has Doles support. Us West Steps up plans for Cable Washington a expanding its plan to get into the Cable business regional phone company us West asked Federal regulators wednesday for permission to provide video services Over phone lines in four cities. If approved by the Federal communications commission us West a service would be available to More than 550,000 people in a Luquer service que . Colorado Springs Colo. And Des Moines and Cedar rapids Iowa. The company already has requests pending to provide Cable services to 1.2 million people in five other cities including Denver and Portland Ore. To provide the service the phone company must install expensive equipment in the network it uses to provide local Tele phone service. It estimates the cons Tion costs for the four City protect i $550 million. Although the acc adopted rules years ago allowing phone Companio provide Cable services Over their i lines Only one company a Bell Atla Jersey a has been authorize Otter the service commercially