News stories from Wednesday December 17, 1980

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

Iran's "final" terms for the release of the 52 American hostages remained a well-kept secret as three Algerian intermediaries waited in Teheran to receive them. State Department officials said they assumed that the intermediaries would soon receive a message containing what Iran has called its "final answer" for transmission to Washington. [New York Times] Urgent action on budget cuts is planned by the Reagan administration, according to James Baker, the next White House chief of staff. He said that President-elect Reagan was considering declaring an economic emergency when he takes office and might send the first proposals for budget reductions for 1981 to Congress hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20. [New York Times] The heads of the White House staff under Mr. Reagan will be three key deputies who will report directly to the President, according to aides to Mr. Reagan. Besides Mr. Baker, the chief of staff, the aides said, the deputies will be Edwin Meese, counselor to the President, and Michael Deaver, assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff. [New York Times] The appointment of Alexander Haig as Secretary of State was greeted favorably by American allies. Several government officials and spokesmen expressed satisfaction over the nomination of a man they respect as the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces.Major problems on foreign policy and diplomatic personnel will be faced by Alexander Haig, the Secretary of State-designate. The Reagan administration seems to want to give a strong political coloration to top assignments at the State Department. This deeply disturbs many Foreign Service officers who say that they should be regarded as nonpartisan and able to serve any administration well. [New York Times] Support for human rights was sought from Ronald Reagan by a group of 71 prominent American religious leaders, including 12 bishops from various denominations. They urged the President-elect to denounce political oppression and the use of torture. [New York Times] Chrysler's situation worsened. The auto company said it expected to lose more than $200 million in the final quarter of this year, bringing its 1980 deficit to about $1.7 billion, the biggest one-year loss ever for an American corporation. Chrysler plans to seek at least $400 million more in federal loan guarantees, and analysts generally agree that the company needs additional cash now to survive. [New York Times] The largest toxic waste disposal plant in the nation is to be built in Lousiana near an elementary school, subdivided lands and a historic plantation house. Construction of the $84 million plant between New Orleans and Baton Rouge was approved by a 6-to-1 vote of the state's Environmental Control Commission. [New York Times] Many Cuban refugees lack sponsors, live precariously and have little hope for improvement. The great majority of the 125,000 refugees who arrived in last summer's boatlift have been successfully placed. But about 8,000 remain in custody because they do not have sponsors or have lost them. Many of the thousands of homeless are unskilled males. [New York Times] New evidence on carcinogenic risks was reported by the President's Council on Environmental Quality after a series of studies begun six years ago. The panel said the research indicated that people who drink water that has a high level of the chemical byproducts of chlorination faced a small but rising risk of developing some types of cancer over a long period of time. [New York Times] Poland's labor leader urged amity with the government. Lech Walesa, the chief of the independent trade union movement, said that the members should negotiate rather than strike and declared, "We do not want to overthrow the system." [New York Times] American-made arms that were seized from the Iranians are now being used by the Iraqi forces who have long been supplied with Soviet-made weapons, Baghdad announced. Military analysts in Lebanon said that the pace of the war had slackened further with the onset of winter rains. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 928.50 (+10.41, +1.13%)
S&P Composite: 132.89 (+2.29, +1.75%)
Arms Index: 0.63

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	971	31.29
Declines	587	11.87
Unchanged	414	7.64
Total Volume		50.80

* 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 16, 1980	918.09	130.60	41.62
December 15, 1980	911.60	129.45	39.69
December 12, 1980	917.15	129.23	39.53
December 11, 1980	908.45	127.36	60.24
December 10, 1980	916.21	128.26	49.31
December 9, 1980	934.04	130.48	53.22
December 8, 1980	933.70	130.61	53.60
December 5, 1980	956.23	134.03	51.99
December 4, 1980	970.48	136.48	51.17
December 3, 1980	972.27	136.71	43.44