News stories from Tuesday September 15, 1981

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

President Reagan threatened to veto an appropriations bill, raising pressure on Congress to cut spending below ceilings imposed earlier this year. The threat resulted in victory in a key test vote in the House of Representatives. "If budget-busting bills do come down, I will veto them," the President told a meeting of Republican congressional leaders early today. "I want to make that plain." [New York Times] Senator Barry Goldwater attacked members of what he called the "new right," asserting that they were not conservatives and that they and their movements were undermining the basic American principle of separation of church and state. [New York Times] Spraying of an acutely toxic pesticide has resulted in the contamination of several species of game birds, threatening the close of hunting season in 17 states because of the risk it poses to humans. The pesticide endrin, which was sprayed on 200,000 acres of wheat land in eastern Montana, was also sprayed in the path of the endangered whooping crane. The federally protected peregrine falcon and bald eagle may also be affected. [New York Times] A powerful dairy lobby was defeated by the Senate's adoption of President Reagan's plan for lowering the level of milk price supports paid to farmers. The Senate accepted the plan to keep price supports at 70 percent of parity, with upward adjustments to be made once a year. [New York Times] Sandra Day O'Connor's nomination as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The full Senate will consider the nomination later this week. [New York Times] Desegregation of schools has had "positive effects" for all students, especially minorities, and improved "educational opportunities," according to Dean Willis Hawley, who heads a federally funded study on how to make desegregation more effective. The findings released by Mr. Hawley, of Vanderbilt University's George Peabody College for Teachers, were the latest installment of a seven-year project to "improve potential benefits" of desegregation. [New York Times] Pope John Paul II endorsed labor unions as "an indispensible element" of modern industrialized society and a vehicle "for the struggle of social justice," but he warned that they must "not be subjected to the decisions of political parties or have close links with them." In his letter to Roman Catholic bishops, the Pope did not mention current events in his native Poland. [New York Times] An assassination attempt in Germany that was aimed at Gen. Frederick Kroesen, the United States Army's European commander, failed with the general and his wife escaping with only minor cuts. Terrorists believed to be member of the Red Army faction fired an anti-tank grenade and gunshots into the General's automobile. It was the fourth attack on American personnel and installations in West Germany in three weeks. [New York Times] The Pakistani government has accepted a six-year $3.2 billion military and economic aid package offered by the United States after the Reagan administration found a way to speed up delivery of F-16 fighter planes. The announcement of the agreement came on the eve of a hearing to consider the administration's arguments for ending a ban on aid to Pakistan even though Pakistan has refused to rule out developing the ability to produce nuclear devices. [New York Times] The Soviet Union indicated that it was likely to adopt a tough stance when Secretary of State Alexander Haig and the Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, meet for the first top-level talks since the Reagan administration took office. [New York Times] Polarization within the Arab world is likely to increase as a result of the Reagan administration's decision to join with Israel in a "strategic alliance." That decision also may provide a rallying point for Soviet interests and isolate America's allies, particularly Saudi Arabia. [New York Times] President Anwar Sadat expelled the Soviet Ambassador and six members of his staff, two Soviet journalists and more than 1,000 Soviet technicians working on projects throughout the country. The action was taken, The Egyptian cabinet said, because the Soviet Union had tried to undermine the government. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 858.35 (-7.80, -0.90%)
S&P Composite: 119.77 (-0.89, -0.74%)
Arms Index: 1.47

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	634	11.49
Declines	820	21.81
Unchanged	442	5.28
Total Volume		38.58

* 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*
September 14, 1981	866.15	120.66	34.04
September 11, 1981	872.81	121.61	42.16
September 10, 1981	862.44	120.14	47.40
September 9, 1981	853.68	118.40	43.90
September 8, 1981	851.12	117.98	47.33
September 4, 1981	861.68	120.07	42.75
September 3, 1981	867.01	121.24	41.72
September 2, 1981	884.23	123.49	37.57
September 1, 1981	882.71	123.02	45.11
August 31, 1981	881.47	122.79	40.36