News stories from Tuesday December 28, 1982

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

Slower economic growth in 1983 than previously projected is now expected by President Reagan's top economic advisers, according to administration aides. They said that the advisers were now predicting an average increase in the gross national product of under 2 percent next year after adjustment for inflation with little reduction in the unemployment rate through the year. [New York Times] The plight of America's steel industry is nowhere so poignant as it is in Lackawanna, N.Y., where a major Bethlehem Steel Corporation plant will be closed. For many decades, the mill was the backbone of the town. As for Lackawanna's future, a steelworker who was laid off 15 months ago and now works as a custodian said, "It's going to be zero." [New York Times] A serious threat to ground water around the country is posed by thousands of pits, ponds and lagoons containing liquid waste, according to a report prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency that has not been officially released. The report, based on a study begun in 1978 in collaboration with state governments, said that more than 180,000 surface impoundments, ranging from cattle ponds to industrial lagoons for toxic waste, had been detected at 80,263 sites. [New York Times] President Reagan recommissioned the World War II-vintage battleship New Jersey off Long Beach, Calif. Mr. Reagan asserted that his administration had dramatically improved American military readiness after an era of "unilateral disarmament" from 1970 to 1979. [New York Times] Drew Lewis resigned as Secretary of Transportation, effective Feb. 1. He said he would become chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Amex Cable Communications Inc., which operates more than 140 cable television systems. [New York Times] The effort to harness nuclear fusion marked a milestone with an announcement that the giant Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in Princeton, N.J., had been turned on for the first time and worked as planned. Project officials hope that the device, built at a cost of $314 million, will eventually be the first in the world to generate more fusion energy that the energy required to produce it. [New York Times] A major storm hit the Middle West, burying many cities under more than a foot of snow and buffeting stranded motorists with winds up to 70 miles an hour. [New York Times] Jack Swigert died in a Washington hospital at the age of 51. Mr. Swigert, a former astronaut from Colorado who had circled the moon aboard Apollo 13, was elected to the House in November by a wide margin while suffering from cancer. [New York Times] Marilyn Monroe either killed herself or accidentally took an overdose of barbiturates, the Los Angeles District Attorney ruled after reviewing her death in 1962. The review was ordered after a private detective contended that the actress had been murdered by "a dissident faction" of the C.I.A. or similar group. [New York Times] A drug for severe back pain has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration after almost a decade of testing. Doctors who have used it in Canada for several years say that thymopapain, a drug derived from papaya fruit, will cut hospital stays and time off the job for many who once would have undergone surgery to correct so-called slipped disks. However, many American doctors, as well as some in Canada, caution that the drug can be dangerous. [New York Times] Lebanon and Israel opened talks designed to bring about a withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian forces from Lebanese soil. Israel also hopes that the negotiations, being held outside Beirut amid tight security, will pave the way for an Israeli-Lebanese peace treaty. [New York Times] Ethnic tension among Israeli Jews has re-emerged over the fatal shooting of a man by a policeman in a housing dispute. The shooting occurred in a Tel Aviv slum dominated by Sephardic Jews from Middle Eastern countries. Officials have received threats, and swastikas and slogans against Ashkenazim, or Jews of European stock, have been spraypainted on cars and buildings in affluent sectors of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. [New York Times] Assertions that Bulgaria instigated the attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II have intrigued but not convinced United States intelligence officials, according to Reagan administration aides. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1058.87 (-11.68, -1.09%)
S&P Composite: 140.77 (-1.41, -0.99%)
Arms Index: 1.39

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	657	17.46
Declines	934	34.42
Unchanged	375	6.73
Total Volume		58.61

* 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*
December 27, 1982	1070.55	142.18	64.69
December 23, 1982	1045.07	139.72	62.88
December 22, 1982	1035.04	138.83	83.46
December 21, 1982	1030.26	138.61	78.01
December 20, 1982	1004.51	136.26	62.20
December 17, 1982	1011.50	137.49	76.01
December 16, 1982	990.25	135.30	73.69
December 15, 1982	992.64	135.24	81.05
December 14, 1982	1009.38	137.39	98.38
December 13, 1982	1024.28	139.95	63.13