New Discount

One-Year T-Bill Rates Plunge: The Treasury sold $9.0 billion of the 52-week T-bills at an average discount rate of 7.58%, down from 8.18% at the last comparable auction on June 1. The rates were the lowest since Oct. 20, 1988, when the one-year bills sold for 7.57%. The new discount rate understates the actual return to investors--8.16% with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,233.60.

Ready to sign up for another discount travel website? Groupon Getaways With Expedia launched Tuesday with discounts on hotels, airfare and other travel. The website looks a lot like members-only travel sites such as Voyage Prive and SniqueAway but operates on the Groupon model: Buy a voucher within a limited time to use for future travel. Expedia and Groupon said in an earlier news release that they hope to leverage more than 50 million combined members with the new service.

One-Year T-Bill Rates Fall: Interest rates on 52-week Treasury bills fell at the latest action to the lowest level since November. The Treasury Department sold $8.5 billion of the new bills at an average discount rate of 8.18%, down from 8.44% at the last auction May 4. The rates were the lowest since Nov. 17, 1988, when the one-year bills sold for 7.92%. The new discount rate understates the actual return to investors--8.85%, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,172.90.

Gap Inc., which last week tapped the head of Walt Disney Co.'s theme parks to become its chief executive, awarded its new boss options to buy 2 million shares of stock at a below-market price. Paul Pressler, 46, was awarded options to purchase the shares at $5.92 each, about half the stock's average price of $11.83 a share on Sept. 25, the day they were awarded, according to papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

T-Bill Rates Drop Again: The Treasury sold $7.2 billion of new three-month bills at an average discount rate of 8.71%, down from 8.87% last week. Another $7.2 billion of new six-month bills was sold at an average discount rate of 8.78%, down from 8.84% last week. The rates were the lowest since March 13, when three-month bills sold for 8.69% and six-month bills averaged 8.76%. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors--9.03% for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,779.

Short-Term Treasury Rates Fall: Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities fell in auction to the lowest level this year. The Treasury Department sold $6.6 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 8.21%, down from 8.41% last week. Another $6.6 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 8.19%, down from 8.39% last week. The rates were the lowest since three-month bills sold for 8.14% on Dec. 19 and six-month bills averaged 8.13% on Nov. 28. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors--8.

Hilton Hotels Corp. is back in a big way with discounts for mature travelers. A brief, but popular, test program called the LXU Club ended last fall. The newest program, Hilton's Senior HHonors Program, features room discounts of up to 50% at more than 210 of the chain's 270 domestic hotels. That means rates as low as $35 a night for two. There is no across-the-board discount as some hotel chains offer.

The City Council today will consider a temporary ordinance that would prohibit the opening ,of new thrift and discount stores. The 45-day emergency ordinance would give the council time to consider permanent regulations.

Air Canada beat out rival Canadian Airlines for control of Canada's skies Wednesday after a majority of Canadian's shareholders accepted Air Canada's takeover bid. Rather than merge the two airlines, Air Canada said it will operate the two carriers separately, allowing Canadian and its partner, American Airlines, to maintain their own marketing identity. Air Canada will also start a third discount airline with a different name to handle smaller domestic routes.

Continental Airlines said Tuesday that it is offering tickets at a discount of as much as 50% this fall, just a week and a half after its last fare sale ended. The airline said it plans to cut fares on U.S. travel for tickets sold Sept. 7-16, reducing its New York-to-Los Angeles fare to $159 one way, from a regular discount fare of $321. That discount matches the one Continental announced last month, when it cut fares for tickets sold Aug. 12-26. After it announced that sale, most other major U.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co., seeking to increase its share of the long-distance market, Tuesday announced a major nationwide rate increase for residential phone service, then immediately introduced an unrestricted discount plan for people who make more than $10 in calls a month. AT&T said it would raise basic long-distance rates next month by an average of 6.3%, more than twice the current rate of inflation.

The incoming commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center at Point Mugu discounts rumors that the seaside missile-testing facility will face further consolidation of its operations or even their elimination as the Navy struggles to cut costs. Rear Adm. Dana Bruce McKinney said he has received no indication from his Pentagon superiors that the Mugu facility, with its unique, 36,000-square-mile sea test range, is a candidate for closure.

Knott's Berry Farm has begun a new round of ticket discounting as the holiday season begins. The Knott's discount programs--there are three--can lower the price of an adult admission ticket to as low as $15.95, a 38.5% cut. Perhaps the easiest to take advantage of is a $15.95 admission offered to adults who drop off a can of food as they enter the park between Friday and Christmas Eve. The food is being donated to the Food Distribution Center, a nonprofit food bank serving Orange County.

Amtrak, in "liberalizing" its discount rail fare program for seniors for 1992, has both giveth and taketh away. Overall, there is more giveth than taketh away. First, the senior discount age has been lowered from 65 to 62 years. But now the discount is only available on rail travel Monday through Thursday. Previously it was any day of the week. Also the senior discount has been lowered from 25% to 15%. That sounds bad but works out better for seniors when you get to the fine print.

Major airlines Monday began a new round of discounted air fares--matching lower fares initiated by Northwest Airlines over the weekend--in an effort to boost still-sluggish summer bookings. The latest fare cuts come on the heels of the industry's recent spring discount promotions, which analysts said were only moderately successful in increasing advanced bookings for the summer.