News stories from Friday October 23, 1981

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

Two more Senators plan to oppose the sale of Awacs planes and missiles to Saudi Arabia. Senator Dale Bumpers, Democrat of Arkansas, announced his decision after a telephone call from President Reagan. An aide to Senator Mark Hatfield, Republican of Oregon, said the Senator would also vote against the sale. [New York Times] The Consumer Price Index surged 1.2 percent in September. The government's major economic indicator showed increased costs for food, transportation, interest and medical care. The increase pushed the inflation rate into a double-digit annual rate for the last three months. [New York Times] The safety airbag law was thrown out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The law would have required autombile manufacturers to install the airbag or other crash protection devices in new cars next year. Raymond Peck, head of the Safety Administration, said the airbag regulation was rescinded because car manufacturers were proposing to install wraparound belts in car and because the airbag devices were not expected to be used by car drivers or passengers. [New York Times] The worst hazardous waste sites in the nation were listed by the Environmental Protection Agency, which compiled a list of 119 of the most dangerous dumps from 282 listed last summer by 39 states and the regional offices of the pollution agency. The dumps were rated for their potential danger to health. [New York Times] Another indictment was announced by the federal grand jury investigating the Libyan venture reportedly led by two former Central Intelligence agents who are charged with training terrorists for Libya and shipping explosives there. The 10-count indictment charged Douglas Schlachter, a 38-year-old Virginian, with shipping explosives to Libya and training terrorists there. It also broadened charges against the two former C.I.A. agents, Edwin P. Wilson and Frank Terpil. [New York Times] A hijacked plane from Puerto Rico landed safely at Kennedy International Airport. The hijacker, describing himself as a Puerto Rican union official, surrendered to the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was identified as Alberto Gonzalez, and he had attempted to divert the New York-bound plane to Quebec. He said he was fleeing the General Workers Union because fellow members suspected that he might be collaborating with a federal investigation of the union. [New York Times] The murder of Anwar Sadat was the first step in a plot by Moslem fundamentalists to install in Egypt a government modeled on Iran's, President Mubarak said in an interview. He said the assassins and their supporters intended to create national havoc and seize key government centers after killing the President and other political, military and religious leaders. [New York Times] Soldiers were sent throughout Poland to deal with demonstrations. A government announcement on television said the troops would be empowered to "counteract problems on the spot" and "would attempt to "solve problems and controversies. It followed soon after the union had called a one-hour national strike on Wednesday to protest food shortages and "harassment." [New York Times] The Cancun talks ended without a major breakthrough in the long-standing differences between the leaders of the industrialized and developing nations, but they made a provisional agreement to pursue an antipoverty strategy at the United Nations. On the key issue of global negotiations it was apparent that President Reagan had stood firm in insisting on placing conditions on American involvement in the talks. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 837.99 (-10.28, -1.21%)
S&P Composite: 118.60 (-1.04, -0.87%)
Arms Index: 1.13

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	485	11.27
Declines	976	25.66
Unchanged	399	5.06
Total Volume		41.99

* 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*
October 22, 1981	848.27	119.64	40.63
October 21, 1981	851.03	120.10	48.48
October 20, 1981	851.88	120.28	51.53
October 19, 1981	847.13	118.98	41.58
October 16, 1981	851.69	119.19	37.80
October 15, 1981	856.26	119.71	42.82
October 14, 1981	850.65	118.80	40.25
October 13, 1981	865.58	120.78	43.07
October 12, 1981	869.48	121.21	30.05
October 9, 1981	873.00	121.45	50.06