News stories from Tuesday November 23, 1982

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

President Reagan, prodded by congressional leaders of both parties, asked the special session to approve a $32.9 billion, five-year program to repair highways and bridges and aid mass transit projects. The program would create 320,000 jobs and be financed largely by a five-cent increase in the federal gasoline tax. [New York Times] Serious trouble for the MX missile plan proposed by President Reagan was acknowledged by Republican congressional leaders. Despite wide opposition in Congress to the plan to deploy 100 MX missiles near Cheyenne, Wyo., opponents conceded the difficulty of challenging a President on a national security issue. [New York Times] The MX missile plan was assailed by leaders of the nuclear freeze movement and other arms control organizations as a waste of money and a dangerously destabilizing system inimical to arms control.The missile plan was hailed by merchants and businessmen in Cheyenne, Wyo. But ranchers and farmers who live on the snow-swept prairies of southeastern Wyoming were concerned whether the deployment plan might uproot them. [New York Times] Consumer prices rose by five-tenths of 1 percent in October, the government reported. The increase was slightly more than had been expected but not enough to disturb the projection that inflation this year will be down to about 5 percent, the smallest increase since 1976. [New York Times] Persistent discrimination is a major reason for the higher jobless rates among blacks and Hispanic Americans compared with whites, in the view of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. The commission took issue with economists and sociologists who contend that differences in skills, education, age or place of residence explain the wide disparities. [New York Times] An end of curbs on TV advertising is considered likely by broadcasting officials. A federal district judge ordered a halt to industry restraints on the duration of commercials, raising the possibility that eventually all restrictions would be dropped, including those governing the content of commercials. [New York Times] A delay in a diesel fuel rule was proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency plans to postpone for two years the imposition of scheduled regulations to require reductions in the emission of small solid particules of spent fuel from vehicles burning the fuel. [New York Times] Washington said it welcomed Yuri Andropov's interest in an easing of tension and was ready "to respond positively to any positive Soviet action." However, the Reagan administration added that Monday's speech by the new Soviet leader "contained no substantive change in familiar Soviet positions." [New York Times] Pressure on "extremist mayors" in the West Bank should be maintained, according to a directive that Israeli military officials issued to administrators in charge of the occupied territory. The directive also instructs the administrators to neutralize pro-Jordanian Palestinians. [New York Times] Eased rules for the integration of teaching staffs in New York City's public schools were announced by the federal Department of Education. The new policy reflects a retreat from a demand that the school system compel transfers of teachers to achieve a better minority balance. The agreement removes the threat of a cutoff of $300 million in federal funds for the system's failure to reassign 3,000 teachers from schools in which the staffs were deemed racially imbalanced. [New York Times] New Jersey budget cuts and tax increases on gasoline and liquor were proposed by Governor Thomas Kean to avert a possible $150 million deficit in the state's current $6.2 billion budget. Mr. Kean, who delivered a special address to the state legislature, urged the legislators to reconvene Monday and remain in session until they had adopted his proposed tax program or an alternative one. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 990.99 (-9.01, -0.90%)
S&P Composite: 132.93 (-1.29, -0.96%)
Arms Index: 1.51

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	575	17.15
Declines	1,065	48.08
Unchanged	323	7.69
Total Volume		72.92

* 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 22, 1982	1000.00	134.22	74.96
November 19, 1982	1021.25	137.02	70.30
November 18, 1982	1032.10	138.34	77.62
November 17, 1982	1027.50	137.93	84.44
November 16, 1982	1008.00	135.42	102.91
November 15, 1982	1021.43	137.03	78.89
November 12, 1982	1039.92	139.53	95.08
November 11, 1982	1054.73	141.76	78.39
November 10, 1982	1044.52	141.16	113.24
November 9, 1982	1060.25	143.02	111.23