News stories from Monday November 23, 1981

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

A bitter budget impasse between Congress and President Reagan prompted him to order that "non-essential" federal employees be sent home and that many government services be curtailed. Earlier, Mr. Reagan vetoed as "budget-busting" a spending bill to keep the government operating, and Congress agreed to his request for a three-week extension of current spending levels that he later signed. The President blamed Congress for the deadlock, while congressional Democratic leaders contended that he was trying to distract voters from problems in the economy.It was the first government shutdown of its kind in history. President Reagan's order led to the closing of some offices, halting the work of some agencies and putting pressure on Congress to act. But the disruption was temporary, and all government employees are to resume work on Tuesday. [New York Times] Cuts in foreign aid are causing concern in the Reagan administration, members of Congress and congressional aides said. The administration apparently believes that too little money was provided in the budget resolution Mr. Reagan vetoed. [New York Times] An Illinois redistricting plan was approved by a three-judge federal panel in Chicago. The Democratic-sponsored proposal would eliminate the seats of two Republicans and preserve the seats of two Democrats, even though the population shifts that made the congressional reapportionment necessary occurred in Democratic districts. [New York Times] James Brady left the hospital nearly eight months after he was shot in the head in the assassination attempt on President Reagan. Mr. Brady, the White House press secretary, used an arm crutch and was supported on both sides as he entered a wheelchair van that took him to his home in Arlington, Va. [New York Times] Support for Richard Allen was ex-pressed by Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman. He said he had signed a statement backing the contention of Mr. Allen, President Reagan's national security adviser and a close friend of Mr. Lehman, that he had intended to surrender to the government the $1,000 he received from a Japanese magazine. [New York Times] A freeze on nuclear forces in Europe was suggested again by Leonid Brezhnev in a day of talks with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in Bonn. The proposal has been rejected by NATO on the ground that it would freeze Soviet superiority in medium-range warheads. [New York Times] A march by 4,000 Ulster Protestants in military formation ended a day of demonstrations in Northern Ireland against Britain's efforts to combat terrorism. The Rev. Ian Paisley, the militant Protestant leader, marched the men through a town near Belfast and told them they should be prepared to die fighting Catholic guerrillas and "never surrender." [New York Times] Mexico cautioned Washington against any precipitate action against Nicaragua and offered to seek ways of improving United States relations with the Sandinist regime. The points were made by senior officials in Mexico City in talks with Secretary of State Alexander Haig. [New York Times] Participation in the Sinai peace force was offered by Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands. After weeks of negotiations, they announced they would contribute to the force that is to be sent to Sinai after Israel completes its withdrawal next spring. [New York Times] A mixed economy in China is in increasing prospect. Peking's two top policy-making bodies formally acknowledged a need for more private enterprise to alleviate chronic unemployment, and they proposed that new jobs be created increasingly by private businesses as well as by cooperative enterprises. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 851.79 (-1.14, -0.13%)
S&P Composite: 121.60 (-0.11, -0.09%)
Arms Index: 0.93

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	718	18.53
Declines	831	20.04
Unchanged	389	6.68
Total Volume		45.25

* 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 20, 1981	852.93	121.71	52.01
November 19, 1981	844.75	120.71	48.72
November 18, 1981	844.06	120.26	49.98
November 17, 1981	850.17	121.15	43.19
November 16, 1981	845.03	120.24	43.74
November 13, 1981	855.88	121.67	45.57
November 12, 1981	860.54	123.19	55.71
November 11, 1981	857.12	122.92	41.94
November 10, 1981	853.98	122.70	53.93
November 9, 1981	855.21	123.29	48.30