Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 18

Dow up 10.89 Amex down 0.66 NASDAQ down 3.02 Press Sun-Bulletin Wednesday, May 1, 1991 8B Li. 1 FDIC raises insurance kid ay8iMiKr ion GM, Ford report big losses AUTOMAKERS' WORST QUARTER General Motors and Ford reported a combined $2.1 2 billion loss for the first three months of 1991, one of the automakers' worst quarters in history: DETROIT (AP) General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor two of the nation's mightiest industrial corporations, reported a combined first-quarter loss exceeding $2 billion Tuesday, the most graphic evidence yet of how the spreading recession has devastated sales of new cars. Neither automaker forecast a turnaround anytime soon. GM lost $1.2 billion, excluding two onetime gains, and Ford lost $884.4 million during the three-month period, the worst quar- terly performance in that automaker's history.

Chrysler weakest of the Big Three, reports first-quarter results today. Combined Big Three first-quarter losses could exceed $2.5 billion, an industry record. Industry executives said they believed any comeback is likely to be slow and gradual, throwing into question whether any of the automakers will show a profit for 1 99 1 "For the full year, with this sort of start in the first quarter, it will be very difficult to achieve a profit," Ford Vice President and Treasurer David McCammon said. GM Chairman Robert Stempel said, "This is a time of extraordinary demands on our business, and General Motors faces the toughest and most competitive North American automotive market in the corporation's history." In past quarters, GM and Ford profits overseas, mostly in Europe and South America, have compensated for the poor performance of their North American automotive business $0.99 $0.71 -tit i $33.9 $30.1 $30.8 $29.9 $29.2 Source: Comoanv reports I II III I 1990 1991 if Business news station takes aim at rich niche GE's Ohio jet division to lay of 1 ,800 workers premium again The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. voted unanimously Tuesday to raise the deposit insurance premium paid by banks for the third time in a year and a half.

The premium will increase to 23 cents per $100 of deposits annually, effective July 1. It has been 19.5 cents since Jan. 1 The increase will generate $870 million a year. The agency, which insures deposits at 12,300 commercial banks and 500 savings banks, plans to borrow 10 billion to shore up its dwindling fund and use the revenue from i this premium increase to repay it. 1 Bankers had opposed the increase by better than a 2-to-l margin, but FDIC Chairman L.

i William Seidman said the increase was "one important element in our plan to maintain a strong deposit insurance system at no cost to the American taxpayer." Earlier, he repeated a warning to the House Banking subcommittee on financial institutions that the fund backing more than $2 trillion in deposits could run out of money between Sept. 30 and the end of the year. Less than Vh years ago, the fund stood at $1 8.3 billion. But 800 bank failures in four years have diminished it to $8.4 billion, according to the FDIC. The General Accounting Office, however, -estimates the funds' condition is even worse t- between $2 billion and $5 billion less.

Selling in Kuwait is seminar topic Business opportunities for American goods and services are part of the Kuwaiti rebuilding program, and a morning workshop scheduled for May 3 will examine how local companies Can participate. i The Chemung County Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Tier World Commerce Association will present two export specialists to address issues of market analysis "and promotion, developing contacts, price quotes and delivery. The two-hour seminar begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Elmira Country Club. Registration is $15 for Chamber members, and $25 for non-members.

Registration deadline is today, and pay-, ment must accompany registration. For more information, call STWCA at 777-2342. Consumer confidence dips Consumer confidence in the economy dipped lower in April as the lingering recession tempered some of the nation's post-gulf war euphoria, the Conference Board said Tuesday. The business research organization said its I consumer confidence index slipped to 79.2 from 81.1 in March, when the index surged 22 points in response to the end of the gulf war. The survey, a barometer of consumer sentiment, found that Americans are optimistic about the future but are increasingly unsettled about current business 'conditions.

Ill THE TIER Nancy F. Marshall has been appointed to the position of vice president for development for Good Shepherd Fairview Foundation, Binghamton. Currently, Marshall is executive director of the Binghamton Symphony Orchestra. Patrick J. Kearse of Port Dickinson has been appointed as a member of the State Council on Home Care Services.

Kearse is president of Corporate Care Management, a health and workers' compensation cost management company. Dr. How ard M. Schonberger of Binghamton has been appointed tournament physician for the 1 7th National Tae Kwon Do Championships to be held in May in Portland, Ore. Schonberger is director of Chiropractic and Sports Injury Services, Binghamton.

The changing scene Carole H. Vymislicky, 1118 Rodman Road, Endicott. is doing business as Special Hair Nail Studio, 402 E. Franklin Endicott. Bernardine V.

Longo, 26 Utica Binghamton, is doing business as Peter Rose, at the same address. Thomas J. Hadwin, 106 Washington Endicott, is doing business as National Business Systems, at the same address. Questions or comments? sr' For matters regarding the Money Report, call Business Editor Jeff Platsky, 798-1 178. DATABANK es.

But that didn't happen in the latest results, a reflection of economic downturns abroad. Ford, for example, lost $208 million in overseas automobile operations, vs. earnings of $155 million last year. Most of the weak- ness was in Britain, where new car and truck sales have slumped even more than in the United States. The U.S.

automotive losses stemmed directly from slow sales, which translated into falling orders, plant closures and layoffs. While describing big losses in their core automotive operations, GM and Ford reported profits in their financial businesses. Ford said its Financial Services Group earned a record $271 million, up 42 percent from a year ago. General Motors Acceptance Corp. said it made $306 million, up 3.3 percent, during the first quarter.

Still, the financial operations profits did little to help companies that rely basically on manufacturing to make money. GM's first-quarter loss equaled $1.94 a share of common stock. During the first quarter of last year, GM earned $710 million. Ford's loss, equal to $1.88 a share, contrasted with $506.2 million earned a year earlier. The last time any one of the Big Three re- ported a quarterly profit was in the third quarter of last year.

"This is a classical economic situation that you don't pull out of easily." McCammon said. "It will take a lot more than an interest rate cut to pull the country out of this." LET'S TALK RADIO Broadcasters in the Binghamton regional market ranked by their share of weekday listeners age 18 and over during a six-month period between September 1990 and February 1991. (Out-of-town stations account for remaining 12.1 percent of audience.) Station share ...18.3 16.1 WNBF-AM(1290) 13.7 WKGB-FM 92.5) 6.7 4.3 3.8 WINR-AM(680) 3.5 3.5 WENE-AMM430) 1.6 WBNK-AM(1360) 1.3 Tied Source: Birch Rdio and cut into WRSG's share of listeners. The new station doesn't expect to garner i mass market like country format rival and No, 1 station WHWK-FM (18.3 percent), or rock- ing home-of-the-hot-hits WAAL (16.1 per cent). Instead, WBNK would like to carve out a relatively small but wealthy audience in the over-30 age group, Rossi said.

in a relationship of "mutual support, caring and commitment," and be responsible for each other's welfare. The mutual-responsibility rules should cause any couple to proceed with care. If you split, you may have opened the door to a palimony suit and other financial obligations. Insurers may double check that you haven't been cheating. To ensure that your claims will be accepted, DPs should document when the relationship started and gd out of their way to create a paper trail that proves mutuality.

You might buy some furniture jointly or put both names on the mortgage. Note, however, that the more intertwined your finances get for employee-benefit purposes, the harder it may be to unwind at separation. One new wrinkle in property insurance: Firemen's Insurance which writes policies in the Washington, D.C, area, now covers domestic partners automatically. But most companies will put both names on a policy, if you ask. Quinn is a Washington Post columnist who appears Wednesday in the Press Sun-Bulletin.

CREDIT RATES $0.77 $0.51 3 "ii in billions of dollars $26.9 $23.6 $23 $24.2 $21.3 II III -1990 VI 1991 APMartha P. Hernandez pected since last week when the Pentagon chose Pratt Whitney to supply engines for the Advanced Tactical Fighter, a job that may' generate 1 2 billion over 20 years. "We very much regret the loss of any jobs, but in light of the recent ATF engine contract decision, we must size the business to the market," said Brian Rowe, senior vice president in charge of the division. The layoffs represent about 5 percent of the work force of 37,000 at GE's plant in suburban Evendale. The company also has a plant in Lynn, Mass.

The jobs cuts also include 500 announced last year because of declining sales of commercial jet engines and 300 additional cuts because of the recession, GE said. write the policy, so it's paying the bills itself a process known as self-insuring. To avoid a catastrophic claim, benefits for partners are capped at $20,000 a year. Berkeley, has been covering DPs since 1985. Of 125 couples claiming benefits, 20 are same-sex and 105 of opposite sexes.

Like West Hollywood; Berkeley originally couldn't find an insurer. But now it's hooked up with two Health Maintenance Organizations, at standard rates. In Seattle, by contrast, the city's three insurers are charging extra for what they perceive an added risk, says benefits manager Sally Fox. But the policy is just one year old, so there hasn't been a lot of experience. One of the few private corporations to in I $0.10 I By FRED WILLIAMS Business Writer Binghamton's last-place radio station has picked up listeners since it switched to an all-news format in October, but it remains in the cellar.

The station, WBNK-AM (1360), garnered a 1.3 percent share of weekday listeners 18 and older during the September-1990-through-, February-1991 period, a survey by Birch Radio said. Under its old format, "solid (then called WRSG) had a 0.3 percent share. "We're making a bit of an inroad," said George Rossi, manager of WBNK and its sister station WAAL-FM. Another plus: WBNK's revenue from advertising sales remained stable, which isn't always the case after a format switch, Rossi said. The station charges advertisers $15 to $21 a minute.

However, the station's audience is the 1 1th largest among the 11 local broadcasters, the Birch survey said. i WBNK plays a mix of news, financial news and financial advice in one-hour segments. Rossi put the format in pinstripes after competing oldies formats crowded the airwaves From staff and wire reports General Electric Co. said Tuesday its jet engine division in Cincinnati will lay off 1,800 people, including 1,000 who worked on its losing bid to supply engines to the Air Force's newest fighter jet. At the company's Aircraft Control Systems Department in Johnson City, managers aren't sure yet how many layoffs will result.

"We're still working specific dates and specific numbers," spokesman Ed Stratton said. The number of layoffs at the plant will depend on how GE does on upcoming awards of "military contracts. The plant would have produced engine controls for the advanced fighter's engine. The engine division layoffs had been ex rfv -c '1' -Iv lit il Employers wary of insuring workers' domestic partners sure DPs is Ben Jerry's Homemade the ice-cream company based in Personnel manager Kathy Chaplin says she's using a Consumers United Insurance Co. policy, which covers domestic partners as a matter of course.

Consumers United is based in Washington, D.C. Other groups with DP coverage include the California cities of Laguna Beach and Santa Cruz, the American Friends Service Committee, the Village Voice newspaper in New York City and the American Psychological Association. If employers are chary of DP coverage so, on close examination, are some DPs themselves. The plans carry costs and responsibili- ties that not all couples care to meet: The cost of the coverage is normally treated as taxable income to the employee, says a spokesperson for the IRS. In Seattle, that could mean an extra 1 36 reported on the employee's W-2 form, plus another $69 for each child.

To escape these taxes, your partner has to be your legal dependent. For an unre-. lated dependent you must, among other things, pay for more than half of your partner's support. Each policy lays down rules for proving your couplehood. In general you have to have lived together for a certain number of months, Memo to employers and insurers: The pressure to grant employee benefits to your workers' "domestic partners" isn't going to go away.

Domestic partners (DPs) are two adults, straight or gay, living in an intimate relationship. If married, they'd get benefits on each other's health plans. Unmarried, they generally do not even when the relationship has lasted longer than a typical marriage. Demands for recognition are being pressed the most vigorously by gays. Where benefits have actually been granted to domestic partners, however, the vast majority to register have been unmarried straights.

So far, only a handful of DPs have been brought under the benefits umbrella. Most employers worry, first, that they'll have to pay for more people with AIDS and, second, that friends will move in with each other solely to gain access to health insurance. The sick, in particular, would presumably seek (and even pay for) such arrangements. So the policies might have higher claims. On admittedly limited experience, these fears appear to be overblown.

West Hollywood, extended full benefits to the DPs of city employees three years ago. Of 130 workers covered, only 5 registered a partner. The town couldn't find an insurer to MARKETPLACE GOLD $355.90 Comparing recessions Here's a look at the gross national product In the current and the 1 981-82 recessions. The economy can still be In a recession vhen GNP rises if key indicators such as employment, production and income are falling. GNP, change from previous quarter at an annual rate Previous recession This recession I on 1 SILVER ajajaajaajgam I J.OVJ I $3,969 A DOWN Ltd ftRA I EXCHANGE RATES Tha following listing showi tha vahw of world cur-reneiat in relation to tha dollar at tha clot ol trading In Naw York.

For eitmpla, It took 136.1 5yen Tuesday to equal a dollar. Yen: 136.15 Monday: 136.5 British Pound: 0.5802 Monday: 0.5965 German Mark: 1.7067 Monday: 1.751 French Franc: 5.776 Monday: 5-909 Canadian Dollar: 1.1529 Monday: 1.1532 Year In Percent Tuesday Monday ago 9.C0 9.00 10.50 DISCOUNT en -r rate 5.53 5.50 7.75 3-MO. TREAS. TT7 bills 5.75 5.75 7.91 8-MO. TREAS.

oe nc DO bills 5.S5 5.96 B.D3 7-YR. TREAS. nn notes 7.80 7.90 9.03 30-YR. TREAS. T71 bonds 8.19 8.19 9.03 MUNICIPAL nc An bonds- 6.05 6.05 6.40 FOUR YEAR NEW CAR LOANS Rat Binghamton Saving 10.75 Chaee Lincoln Flrat 11.20 Chemical Bank 14.90 Cltizene Saving 11.75 Endicott Truat 11.50 Firat Federal 12.25 GHS Credit Union 10.50 IBM Cradlt Union 1O00 Kay Bank 11.25 Marina Midland 10.95 Noratar 12.75 Owego National 12.25 Aetorla Saving 12.00 Peoplea National Bank 11.50 Sidney Cradlt Union 10.50 Ttoga Stata Bank 11.90 a'; 3(1 0'.

br -t ni sr 9V Vt' fl 3 '81 4 12 3 4 81 '82 '82 '82 '82 3 90 INVESTOR'S TIP Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, shows no sign of slowing. Despite the recession, the discount giant said it expects revenue to grow by more than 30 percent this year. Wal-Mart unseated Sears as the USA's No. 1 retailer in the fiscal year ended Jan. 30.

Wal-Mart said it will add 200 stores this year to its more than 1 ,500 outlets. -2 -4 -6 Quarter Year Source: 4 1 '90 '91 Italian Lire: 1,292.5 Monday: 1,294 'supplied by Dean Witter Commerce Department Marly Baumann, GNS.