News stories from Wednesday October 28, 1981

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

The Senate permitted the Awacs sale to Saudi Arabia by a vote of 52 to 48, giving President Reagan a major legislative victory only days after he seemed to be facing defeat. The House had overwhelmingly disapproved the $8.5 billion sale of five radar planes and other air combat equipment, but the President will now be able to carry it out. The White House, with intense lobbying, obtained in 48 hours the support of nine previously unannounced Senators and secured a switch in votes by five Senators. [New York Times] The aura of the White House helped President Reagan win the Awacs vote. "He has the ability to make a deal if a deal is necessary," commented Senator Slade Gorton, Republican of Washington, who cast a key vote in favor of the sale. A week ago, he won a pledge of White House support for a $26 million appropriation for the renovation of a hospital in Seattle. [New York Times] The President hailed Senate approval of the arms sale to the Saudis, said that he had made no political deals to achieve Senate approval and declared that the sale would enhance world confidence in the United States as a military ally. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Reagan declared that the Senate "has acted with statesmanship, with foresight and with courage." [New York Times] Arguments for the B-1 bomber were set back as the C.I.A. told a Senate subcommittee that existing B-52 bombers could penetrate Soviet air defenses until 1990, contrary to assertions by the Reagan administration. Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, told a hearing that the information provided a major argument against the proposed B-1. [New York Times] The House, forced to record votes on a proposal to ease restrictions on its members' outside earned income, rejected the plan by a decisive 271-to-147 vote. The prevailing sentiment had appeared strongly in favor of easing such curbs until opponents succeeded in getting the recorded vote. [New York Times] A new soil conservation program was announced by the Agriculture Department. The plan would transfer to the states increased responsibility for protecting crop land and would provide modest federal block grants to assist them in these programs. [New York Times] An old Haitian freighter was seized by the Customs Service when it became disabled 150 miles north of Miami. A spokesman said that the ship was seized because it had a hidden compartment, but he declined to say whether the incident was linked with the smuggling of refugees. [New York Times] A bitter argument over racism and anti-Semitism erupted between two candidates for Manhattan Borough President in a radio studio. Andrew Stein, the Democratic incumbent, said it was "wrong" that David Dinkins, the Liberal Party candidate, had waited "until the last minute" to disavow anti-Semitic statements by some of his backers. Mr. Dinkins replied that Mr. Stein had said that "Dave Dinkins' only qualification" was that he is black. [New York Times] A major drug for heart attack victims has been approved by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The agency is expected to announce tomorrow that the drug has proved so useful in preventing deaths of heart attack patients in a nationwide experiment that clinical tests are being cut short, reportedly because officials do not want to deny the drug to those in the experiment who are getting harmless inert tablets instead of the drug. [New York Times] Polish workers struck for an hour to protest food shortages. The authorities asserted that the walkout had failed, but spot checks of factories in the Warsaw area showed that the strike was being widely observed. [New York Times] Iraq is receiving American weapons, according to Defense Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel. He charged that Washington has been sending clandestine shipments of artillery and ammunition to the Iraqis through Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The State Department denied the charge. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 837.61 (-0.77, -0.09%)
S&P Composite: 119.45 (+0.16, +0.13%)
Arms Index: 1.04

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	843	24.55
Declines	613	18.61
Unchanged	424	4.93
Total Volume		48.10

* 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 27, 1981	838.38	119.29	53.03
October 26, 1981	830.96	118.16	38.20
October 23, 1981	837.99	118.60	41.98
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