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neither company would disclose the program 's cost |
buick approached american express about a joint promotion because its card holders generally have a good credit history and are good at making payments says a spokeswoman for the division |
american express also represents the upscale image we 're trying to project she adds |
buick has been seeking for the past few years to restore its reputation as the doctor 's car a product for upscale professionals |
sales were roughly flat in the N model year compared with a year earlier though industry sales fell |
but since the N model year began oct. N buick sales have plunged N N |
for american express the promotion is part of an effort to broaden the use of its card for retail sales where the company expects to get much of the future growth in its card business |
traditionally the card has been used mainly for travel and entertainment expenses |
<unk> <unk> an american express executive vice president says the promotion with buick is his company 's first with an auto maker but hopefully will be the first of many in the company 's effort to promote its green card as the total <unk> card |
to that end american express has been signing up gasoline companies car repair shops tire companies and car dealers to accept the card |
many auto dealers now let car buyers charge part or all of their purchase on the american express card but few card holders realize this mr. <unk> says |
until now however buyers who wanted to finance part of a car purchase through general motors acceptance corp. could n't put their down payment on a charge card because of possible conflicts with <unk> and state disclosure laws over finance rates says a spokesman for the gm finance arm |
but gmac approved the buick program he says because the american express green card requires payment in full upon billing and so does n't carry any finance rates |
mr. <unk> says american express considers gm and buick very sophisticated direct-mail marketers so by joining forces with them we have managed to maximize our direct-mail capability |
in addition buick is a relatively respected <unk> among american express card holders says an american express spokeswoman |
when the company asked members in a mailing which cars they would like to get information about for possible future purchases buick came in fourth among u.s. cars and in the top N of all cars the spokeswoman says |
american express has more than N million card holders in the u.s. and over half have the green card |
gmac <unk> the <unk> list for holders more than N years old with household incomes over $ N who had n't missed any payments the buick spokeswoman says |
some N million of the five million who will get letters were <unk> for credit with gmac |
these N million people also are eligible to get one percentage point off gmac 's advertised finance rates which start at N N for two-year loan contracts |
a spokesman for visa international 's u.s. subsidiary says his company is using promotions to increase use of its cards but does n't have plans for a <unk> similar to the american <unk> link |
three divisions at american express are working with buick on the promotion the establishment services division which is responsible for all merchants and companies that accept the card the travel division and the merchandise sales division |
the vacation packages include hotel <unk> and in some cases tours or tickets to local <unk> but not meals |
<unk> are chicago <unk> las vegas nev. los angeles miami beach fla. new orleans new york <unk> fla. san francisco and washington d.c. |
a buyer who chooses to fly to his <unk> must pay for his own ticket but gets a companion 's ticket free if they fly on united airlines |
in <unk> of the vacation buyers can choose among several prizes including a <unk> <unk> or a stereo videocassette recorder |
card holders who receive the letter also are eligible for a <unk> with buick cars or a hawaii vacation as prizes |
if they <unk> a buick they get an american express <unk> |
this is n't buick 's first <unk> promotion |
a few years ago the company offered two <unk> tickets on trans world airlines to buyers of its <unk> luxury car |
the promotion helped <unk> sales exceed the division 's forecast by more than N N buick said at the time |
the united kingdom high court declared illegal a variety of interest-rate swap transactions and options deals between a london borough council and commercial banks |
the ruling could lead to the cancellation of huge bank debts the london borough of <unk> and <unk> ran up after losing heavily on swap transactions |
as many as N u.k. and international banks stand to lose several hundred million pounds should the decision be upheld and set a precedent for other municipalities |
an appeal is expected |
in response to the ruling <unk> futures swiftly plunged more than a point yesterday before recovering much of the loss by the end of the session |
<unk> or british government bonds which also fell sharply initially <unk> some of the losses to end about N point lower |
the council which is alleged to have engaged in over N deals valued at over # N billion $ N billion lost millions of pounds from <unk> swap deals |
at one point <unk> is reported to have accounted for as much as N N of the sterling market in interest-rate swap dealings |
when two parties engage in an interest-rate swap they are betting against each other on future rates |
thus an institution obligated to make fixed-rate interest payments on debt swaps the payments with another making floating-rate payments |
in most of the british transactions the municipalities agreed to make floating-rate payments to banks which would make fixed-rate payments |
as interest rates rose municipalities owed the banks more than the banks were paying them |
the court hearing began in early october at the request of anthony <unk> district <unk> for <unk> who argued that local <unk> are n't vested with constitutional authority to engage in such <unk> activities |
the council backed the audit commission 's stand that the swap transactions are illegal |
although the <unk> and <unk> council was by far the most active local authority engaging in such <unk> transactions the court decision could set a precedent for similar transactions by N other local <unk> |
while this court ruling was only on <unk> it will obviously be very <unk> in other cases of a similar nature a <unk> representing one of the banks said |
already N local <unk> have refused to honor fees and payments to banks incurred during various swaps dealings |
other financial institutions involved include barclays bank plc midland bank plc security pacific corp. chemical banking corp. 's chemical bank citicorp 's citibank and mitsubishi finance international |
if the banks <unk> all <unk> of appeal it is possible that they would seek to have the <unk> ruling work both ways some market sources said |
banks could seek to recover payments to local authorities in <unk> where the banks made net payments to <unk> |
officials from the various banks involved are expected to meet during the next few days to consider other arrangements with local authorities that could be questionable |
the banks have N days to file an appeal against the ruling and are expected to do so shortly |
in the aftermath of the stock market 's <unk> 190-point drop on oct. N kidder peabody & co. 's N stockbrokers across the country began a telephone and <unk> campaign aimed at <unk> the country 's second-largest program trader |
the target of their <unk> |
their own employer kidder peabody |
since october 's <unk> wall street has been shaken by an explosion of <unk> against program trading the computer-driven <unk> trades of huge baskets of stocks and futures that can send stock prices reeling in minutes |
but the <unk> fight over program trading is about much more than a volatile stock market |
the real battle is over who will control that market and reap its huge rewards |
program trading itself according to many <unk> who have studied it is merely caught in the middle of this battle unfairly labeled as the evil driving force of the marketplace |
the evidence indicates that program trading did n't in fact cause the market 's sharp fall on oct. N though it may have <unk> it |
on one side of this power struggle stand the forces in <unk> on wall street the new guard consisting of high-tech computer <unk> at the major brokerage firms their pension fund clients with <unk> pools of money and the traders at the fast-growing chicago futures exchanges |
these are the main proponents of program trading |
defending their <unk> are wall street 's old guard the traditional <unk> money managers tens of thousands of stock brokers the new york stock exchange 's listed companies and the <unk> floor traders known as specialists who make markets in their stocks |
so far wall street 's old guard seems to be winning the program-trading battle successfully <unk> public and congressional opinion to <unk> their <unk> |
the chicago mercantile exchange a major futures marketplace yesterday announced the addition of another layer of trading halts designed to slow program traders during a rapidly falling stock market and the big board is expected today to approve some additional restrictions on program trading |
<unk> by charges that their greed is turning the stock market into a <unk> <unk> almost all the big investment banking houses have abandoned index arbitrage a common form of program trading for their own accounts in the past few days |
a few such as giant merrill lynch & co. now refuse even to do index arbitrage trades for clients |
the old guard 's assault on program trading and its practitioners has been fierce and broad-based in part because some old guard members feel their very <unk> is at stake |
some such as traditional money manager neuberger & <unk> have taken out national newspaper advertisements demanding that market regulators stop the numbers <unk> on wall street |
big board stock specialists in a bold palace <unk> began shortly after oct. N to telephone the corporate executives of the companies whose stock is listed on the big board to have them pressure the exchange to ban program trading |
charles wohlstetter the chairman of contel corp. who is <unk> other <unk> to the <unk> trading cause says he has received <unk> letters offering support |
they said <unk> without a single exception do n't even compromise |
kill it he says |
wall street 's new guard is n't likely to take all this lying down for long however |
its new products and trading techniques have been highly profitable |
program trading money managers have gained control over a big chunk of the invested funds in this country and the pressures on such money managers to produce consistent profits has <unk> them to the ability to move rapidly in and out the market that program trading gives them |
what 's more the last time major wall street firms said they were getting out of program trading in the aftermath of the N crash they waited a few months and then <unk> back into it |
even some members of the old guard despite their current advantage seem to be <unk> that the future belongs with the new guard |
last week robert m. bradley one of the big board 's most respected floor traders and head of a major traders ' organization surrendered |
he sold his exchange seat and wrote a bitter letter to big board chairman john j. phelan jr. in which he said the big board is too focused on machines rather than people |
he said the exchange is headed for a real crisis if program trading is n't <unk> |
i do not want my money invested in what i consider as nothing more than a casino mr. bradley wrote |
the battle has turned into a civil war at some firms and organizations causing internal <unk> and <unk> employee against employee |
at kidder a unit of general electric co. and other big brokerage firms stockbrokers battle their own firm 's program traders a few floors away |
corporations like contel <unk> program trading yet contel has in the past hired pension fund managers like bankers trust co. that are also big program traders |
the big board the nation 's premier stock exchange is sharply divided between its floor traders and its top executives |
its entrenched N stock specialists firms are fighting <unk> and <unk> against programs |
but the big board 's leadership over the specialists ' protests two weeks ago began trading a new stock basket product designed to facilitate program trading |
a lot of people would like to go back to N before program trading mr. phelan said this week |
i would like to go back to N |
but we are not going back to N |
again and again program-trading 's critics raise the casino theme |
they say greedy market <unk> have made a <unk> of the nation 's <unk> system turning the stock market into a big gambling <unk> with the odds heavily <unk> against the small investor |
the public did n't come to the market to play a game they can go to <unk> betting for that says a. <unk> murray chairman of <unk> murray foster securities a traditional money management firm |
the program traders on the other hand <unk> old-fashioned stock pickers as the <unk> of the industry |
critics like mr. murray are looking for <unk> and people who use computers to trade are a convenient <unk> says j. thomas allen president of advanced investment management inc. a pittsburgh firm that runs a $ N million fund that uses index arbitrage |
just a blind fear of the unknown is causing them to <unk> the regulators for protection |
for all the furor there is nothing particularly complex about the concept of stock-index arbitrage the most controversial type of <unk> program trading |
like other forms of arbitrage it merely seeks to take advantage of <unk> discrepancies in the price of a single product in this case a basket of stocks in different markets in this case the new york stock exchange and the chicago futures markets |
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