News stories from Friday August 28, 1981

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

A plea of not guilty was entered by John W. Hinckley at his arraignment in Federal District Court in Washington on charges of attempting to kill President Reagan and three other men last March. With the agreement of prosecutors and defense attorneys, Judge Barrington Parker signed an order declaring that the defendant was mentally competent to participate in the arraignment and the ensuing trial. [New York Times] A major government economic index intended to predict movements in overall economic activity fell by one-tenth of 1 percent in July, the Commerce Department reported. This was its third consecutive monthly decline, which is often taken as presaging a recession, but July's decline was so small that it was regarded by economists as mildly encouraging. [New York Times] A safe from the Andrea Doria's wreck was taken aboard the salvage ship operated by Peter Gimbel and his wife. It belonged to the Bank of Rome, and is one of two believed to contain currency and jewels. Its opening was delayed while measures were taken to protect the currency it might contain from being destroyed by sudden exposure to air. The safe will be opened on national television when a film documentary of the expedition is introduced. [New York Times] The Justice Department told Chicago that it was satisfied with its proposals to desegregate its schools, reversing a position that may indicate further retrenchment by the Reagan administration of previously aggressive federal school desegregation efforts. On July 21, the department criticized the school board's proposals for desegregating the nation's second largest school system as "incomplete" and ineffective. In a statement submitted to the Federal District Court in Chicago, the department suggested that its criticisms had been ill-advised, resulting from misunderstandings between the government and Chicago school officials. [New York Times] The Justice Department's defense of the asylum granted a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy will be continued "vigorously," a department spokesman said at a news conference. He denied reports that the department had agreed to let the parents of Walter Polovchak take him back to the Soviet Union if an Illinois court allowed them to regain custody. [New York Times] Cuba and Russia were again accused by Secretary of State Alexander Haig of playing major roles in the fomenting of civil war in El Salvador, and he accused the country's rebels of engaging in "straight terrorism" against the civilian population. His remarks were made at a news conference at the State Department after an announcement by France and Mexico that they had recognized the rebels as a "representative political force." [New York Times] The joint French-Mexican statement presented to the United Nations Security Council was apparently a challenge to American policy on El Salvador. It said that, in addition to recognizing the Salvadoran guerrilla-led opposition as a "representative political force," the opposition had a right to participate in negotiations aimed at ending the fighting. The statement also called for reorganization of the Salvadoran armed forces before "authentically free" elections could be held. The French-Mexican proposals run directly counter to the Reagan administration's policy, which seeks the military defeat of the guerrillas and their exclusion from elections for a constitutional assembly, scheduled in March. [New York Times] Voyager 2's camera platform was reoriented on commands radioed by engineers in California and resumed photography of Saturn, ending a three-day blackout caused by the platform's jamming. Project officials said they would attempt to aim the spacecraft's television camera toward the distant moon Phoebe, which has never been photographed in detail, next week. Voyager will pass through Phoebe's orbit Sept. 4. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 892.22 (+3.14, +0.35%)
S&P Composite: 124.08 (+0.57, +0.46%)
Arms Index: 0.75

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	779	20.28
Declines	644	12.61
Unchanged	446	5.13
Total Volume		38.02

* 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*
August 27, 1981	889.08	123.51	43.91
August 26, 1981	899.26	124.96	39.98
August 25, 1981	901.83	125.13	54.60
August 24, 1981	900.11	125.50	46.74
August 21, 1981	920.57	129.23	37.67
August 20, 1981	928.37	130.69	38.27
August 19, 1981	926.46	130.49	39.39
August 18, 1981	924.37	130.11	47.26
August 17, 1981	926.75	131.22	40.84
August 14, 1981	936.93	132.49	42.57