European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Money matters tuesday november 29,1994 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 British Pound. 1.60 dutch Guilder 1.71 German Mark. 1.53 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. -. ". Austrian Schilling 11.0140 Bahrain Dinar. 0.377 belgian franc 32.225 British Pound. 1.5619 Canadian Dollar 1.3748 danish Krone 6.1270 dutch Guilder "1.7537 French franc 5.3730 German Mark. 1.5645 greek drachma. 241.20 italian lira. 1,620 Kuwait Dinar 0.29930 norwegian Krone. 6.83 portuguese escudo. 159.84 saudi rial .3.7506 Spanish peseta. 130.66 Swiss franc 1.3265 turkish lira. 36,540.00 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $384.70 an ounce Silver quote $5.17 an ounce sources merchants National Bank & Trust co. And the associated pres open wallets opera holidays weekend spent spending on expensive items by the associated press Strong season but it can also forecast e associate press the first weekend of the 1994 Christmas shopping season was a blast for retailers and their customers As con Sumers scooped up jewelry big screen televisions arid other top Dollar items. Several retailers said business was bet Ter than expected Friday and saturday with shoppers looking for frills even As they searched for value. The weekend s Strong results which indicated Consumers Are More relaxed this year about spend ing freely for Christmas augured Well for the season. At Sears Roebuck and co., "1994 was the Best two Day thanksgiving Effort in our history said John costello senior executive vice president of marketing. Sears had. Strong sales across a wide Range of categories including jewelry and wide screen televisions. At . Macy & co. Inc., sales for All of thanksgiving week were up about 7 percent a gain that chairman Myron  ii described As pretty  Fine jewelry and men s sportswear were particularly Good performers rising by double digit percentages from a year earlier. Sales of women s sportswear which lagged throughout the fall because the weather was warm have picked up we were looking at a Good season. We did t know it was going to be quite this Good.1 John Kenaf ski International Counch of shopping centers now that the weather has turned cold Ullman said. Smaller stores also did Well. The inter National Council of shopping centers said sales from specially stores at 26 big malls around the country Rose 9 percent Friday 1 " we were looking at a Good season. We did t know it was going to be quite this Good said John Konarski the Trade group s research director jewelry sales were very Strong rising an unexpected 17.7 percent Konarski said. He noted that people defer this kind of Purchase if they Are Uncertain about the Economy and their own i  -. The thanksgiving weekend is a barometer of How Well stores will do Over the entire Holiday period. It can portend a Stro forecast a Tough one. During the recession shop pers crowded into stores after thanksgiving but were cautious and choosy and kept that attitude for what proved to be a difficult Eason for retailers. Still even a Strong first weekend is no guarantee. If the weather sours particularly during the last few Days of the sea son retailers can lose business. And with half their annual sales and profits Riding on Christmas that would Hurt Many companies. \. Last weekend Consumers bore out predictions that Home items would be big Sellers. At Home furnishing retailer pier 1 imports comparable store sales those from stores open at least a year were up in the Low double digits chairman Clark Johnson said. Gold and brass items were among his top Sellers. Although they responded to special of fers and bargains shoppers were willing to spend on the frivolous. Lowes cos., a Chain of 330 Home furnishing and improvement stores had a great week doing big business in higher end merchandise including animated Santa Claus and mrs. Claus dolls. Spokesman Cliff Oxford said some shop pers bought As much As $300 to $400worth. .. Money lured abroad Washington a despite the recession of the Early 1990s, americans invested a record $58 billion directly in Ito reign businesses last year according to a world Bank report. That raised the total value of direct . Investment abroad to $549 billion compared with $423 billion for no. 2 Japan the world Bank said. The huge expense of German unification has increased the need for German companies to raise Money by issuing Bonds. Three .-based investment firms Morgan Stanleyj a. Morgan an Solomon Brothers have gone so heavily into the business that they rank among Germany s top 10, the report said. Bentsen dismissed to wipe out re Washington a Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen on sunday disa vowed labor Secretary Robert Reich s plea to overhaul business tax credits that Reich Calls corporate  less than a week after president Clin ton called the concept an attractive idea Bentsen said it was not an administration proposal. And he took a person Al stand against Calls to reduce the tax Breaks. I did t find myself very excited about them. No i did to said Bentsen the Cabinet s leading voice on economics speaking on lbs face the nation in a speech last tuesday to the centrist democratic leadership Council Reich challenged republicans to match their Call for changes in social welfare pro Grams with an Over haul of corporate  while not specifying programs that might be targeted Reich said the Council s Resea Charm had compiled a formidable list of special tax benefits for particular Indus Bentsen tries totalling Over$111 billion Over five  Reich s remarks caught the White House and Cabinet by Surprise. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown an other key economic aide said hours after the speech that he had not been Consul Ted.  -. Bentsen said sunday that he had not been briefed in Advance either. As i understand it Secretary Reich was providing a Litany of options that were provided by the dlr not by the administration. None of those things Are things that we have proposed. I Don t frankly see that any decisions have been made on any of this Bentsen said. Clinton has not commented on the matter since last tuesday when he said he did not know the details of Reich s plan but thought it sounded Good. Aids threat to economies stressed by the Washington Post Washington the world Bank will emphasize the threat of aids to economic development in a new and larger Campaign of lending to countries racked by the disease. The effect of aids on income and work Force skills is not widely appreciated either inside the governments of the worst affected countries or among the agencies trying to help them a Bank official said recently. The countries Are struggling with so Many other problems simultaneously that it is difficult for them to make the linkage Between economic development and aids said David de Ferranti director of the world Bank s population health and nutrition department. The disease appears to be a major Rea son for the slowed growth of per capita income in a group of 10 nations of sub saharan Africa. The rate of increase has been about 1 percent a year but will fall to about 0.4 percent in coming years Bank economists project. Some countries with High infection rates such As Malawi and Zambia havoc falling per capita in comes although it is impossible to say How much aids has contributed to this trend. The Bank will lend about $150 million this year to help support aids Preven Tion and treatment programs. Since 1986, it has Lent about $600 million to 40 coun tries de Ferranti said. Many of the Loans Are interest free and have a 40-year pay Back term making them about an 80 per cent equivalent of an outright Grant he said. Aids effect on countries economies includes the death of about 10 percent of the Uganda railway corp s 5,600 employees in recent years. An estimated Cost of $8 million to re place Long haul truck Drivers in Thailand who have died of the disease. Up to 4.2 percent of the country s adult work Force May be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus which causes aids. The projected loss of 14,460 Tanza Nian teachers by 2010 and 27,000 by 2020. By the latter Date the epidemic May have reduced the number of primary school age children by 14 percent from the enrolments predicted if aids did not exist. An average Cost of $90 for the Hospi Tal treatment of a child with aids in Kinshasa Zaire. This is three times the average monthly income of a family. An average of 17 episodes of illness for an adult with aids in the developing world and 6.5 episodes for children be fore death. The Cost of this medical care often depletes household savings. An expected increase in the number of children who leave school to work be cause of the death of income earning adults in their families. The epidemic also May shift agriculture in some coun tries away from Cash crops to subsistence crops or from labor intensive food crops to those that require less work but in some cases Are less nutritious. A senior Public health specialist at the world Bank Jean Louis Laboray cited Brazil As an example where the fight against aids has been framed As a worthwhile investment. But brazilian officials at first had to be persuaded to take a world Bank loan to help support prevention of sexually transmitted diseases through education counselling and test ing to improve medical treatment for his infected people and to improve lab oratory skills of health workers. Tiffany s Stock sparkles again by the new York times new York when Holl Golightly the ingenue in breakfast at Tiffany a was sad she would walk through the Tiffany & co. Store on fifth Avenue and the sight of. Jewels Crystal and Silver would cheer her up. Investors Are finding that Tiffany is making them Happy too. In less than a month Tiffany shares Rose by 20 percent and there May be a Little More upside yet to come. After suffering in the Early 1990s from sagging earnings Tiffany has begun to turn around. The end of the recession was Good news As customers began to spend More. Problems at Tiffany s japanese outlets have been straightened out. And a rapid expansion in stores that dampened earnings in the Early 1990s has paid off As those stores have now begun to fill wit shoppers