News stories from Wednesday November 25, 1981

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Sweeping retrenchment by cities was reported by the United States Conference of Mayors. In a survey of 100 cities across the country, the conference said that they were laying off employees, raising taxes, reducing services and deferring major spending programs to cope with the burdens imposed by the Reagan administration's budget cutbacks. [New York Times] A call for legalized prostitution created an uproar in Atlantic City. The proposal was made by Willie Clayton, the public safety commissioner and deputy police chief. He contended that efforts to control prostitution generated by the city's nine casino hotels were frustrated by low fines and rare jail sentences. [New York Times] The trial of a Libyan in Fort Collins, Colo., heard Eugene Tafoya testify that he went to the apartment of a dissident Libyan student last year believing he was delivering a message from the C.I.A., and fatally shot the student in self-defense. Mr. Tafoya is charged with attempted murder and conspiracy. [New York Times] A major battle for personal savings is taking shape. The bulk of the nation's workforce will soon be eligible for Individual Retirement Accounts, which will be free of interest-rate ceilings. Enticed by this huge new market, banks, insurance companies, thrift institutions, mutual funds and brokerage houses are all scrambling to sign up I.R.A. savers. [New York Times] President Reagan starts the day at his California mountain ranch by restarting the blazes in the two fireplaces in his five-room, century-old adobe ranch house. In an interview, Mr. Reagan remarked that at this time of year, at an altitude of 2,400 feet, "you have to keep the fireplaces going all day." The President's holiday routine includes horseback riding on some of the 12 miles of trails that lace the 688-acre Rancho del Cielo, chopping wood and clearing brush. [New York Times] Serious talks on arms cuts were urged by the State Department. It said that, with the Soviet-American negotiations on nuclear forces in Europe opening Monday, it was now "time for a cessation of public posturing." [New York Times] Moscow-Bonn contacts were set by Leonid Brezhnev and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they ended three days of talks in the West German capital. The two countries will hold a separate series of meetings parallel with the Soviet-American negotiations in Geneva on limiting or reducing medium-range nuclear weapons in Europe. A West German spokesman said the West Germans were those "most deeply concerned" about the outcome of the talks. [New York Times] The disorders in south London last April reflected resentment by young blacks against the police, but were not race riots, according to a report to the government. The report, by a retired appeals judge, urged steps to improve relations between the police and local communities, which the government pledged to bring about, and suggested urgent action to end racial inequality throughout Britain. [New York Times] An Arab League meeting broke up in disarray a few hours after it opened in Fez, Morocco, amid Syrian opposition to Saudi Arabia's peace plan for the Middle East. The conference convened with the ritual calls for Arab unity, but the major topic of discussion was the absence of President Hafez al-Assad of Syria, who joined the hard-line leaders of Libya and Iraq in boycotting the meeting. [New York Times] In an act of clemency in Cairo, President Hosni Mubarak unconditionally released 31 political figures and journalists who were jailed two months ago and met with them in his office. Among those freed were five former cabinet officials, including a prominent journalist. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 878.14 (+7.90, +0.91%)
S&P Composite: 124.05 (+0.54, +0.44%)
Arms Index: 1.11

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,017	32.22
Declines	543	19.10
Unchanged	370	7.25
Total Volume		58.57

* in millions of shares

Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish.

Market Index Trends
Date	DJIA	S&P	Volume*
November 24, 1981	870.24	123.51	53.37
November 23, 1981	851.79	121.60	45.27
November 20, 1981	852.93	121.71	52.01
November 19, 1981	844.75	120.71	48.72
November 18, 1981	844.06	120.26	49.98
November 17, 1981	850.17	121.15	43.19
November 16, 1981	845.03	120.24	43.74
November 13, 1981	855.88	121.67	45.57
November 12, 1981	860.54	123.19	55.71
November 11, 1981	857.12	122.92	41.94