News stories from Friday February 6, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A worldwide oil glut may be coming, according to Western governments and international oil companies who say that by summer more oil may be available to consumers than they need. The growing supplies are putting pressure on some OPEC producers to cut back the surcharges they have added to their official oil prices. [New York Times]
- Employment increased last month, keeping the jobless rate at 7.4 percent, unchanged from December, according to the Labor Department's monthly labor survey, which indicated that the economy was surprisingly strong despite continued very high interest rates. [New York Times]
- President Reagan's 70th birthday was celebrated with a surprise party in the East Room of the White House with many of his Hollywood friends, including Frank Sinatra and James Stewart, in attendance. [New York Times]
- Some liberal economists found fault with the economic premises of President Reagan's speech Thursday on the economy, described by the President as a comprehensive audit of economic conditions. The critical economists said that key economic statistics were misused and that the extent of the difficulties was overstated. [New York Times]
- Reagan supporters plan a campaign to put public pressure on Congress to approve Mr. Reagan's economic recovery program. It is being organized by about 500 of his supporters, who met in Washington. The group includes the President's "kitchen cabinet," an informal advisory group that includes some wealthy Californians who are Mr. Reagan's close friends. Charles Wick, the principal organizer, denied that it was a "pressure group." [New York Times]
- Three young blacks were convicted in Miami of murder in the beating deaths of three white motorists who were driving through Liberty City during last May's race riots in Miami. A fourth youth was acquitted. [New York Times]
- Televised trials are likely to increase following the Supreme Court decision last week upholding the right of states to permit television news cameras in courarooms, according to judges, lawyers and legal scholars. Some degree of television coverage was permitted in 27 states before the Supreme Court decision allowing television coverage of criminal trials. Ten states require a defendant's consent to the cameras, which is rarely given. [New York Times]
- Digging a well under Shea Stadium to provide the New York Mets with water to keep the ball park green during the drought emergency is being considered by the city. Both the Mets and the Yankees have been told that during the emergency they cannot water the grass, but there is a well under Yankee Stadium, which was used in a big drought in the 1960's. [New York Times]
- The defense called its last witnesses at the murder trial of Jean Harris in White Plains. Two psychiatrists suggested that Mrs. Harris was exhibiting symptoms of drug withdrawal at the time she drove to Purchase, N.Y., and shot Dr. Herman Tarnower in what she has insisted was an accident. [New York Times]
- Trust in the Reagan administration was expressed by the leaders of France and West Germany as they completed a two-day meeting in Paris. In a joint declaration, President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt expressed readiness to cooperate with the administration in meeting the dangers of a deteriorating international climate and warned against intervention in Poland. [New York Times]
- Poland's printers threaten to strike if the government censorship of the press is not relaxed by Tuesday. They are members of the independent labor union and are concerned over an apparent return to heavy censorship. They will call a strike Friday if the government does not relax its rules. [New York Times]
- Fighting broke out in Teheran between Iranian leftists, who were holding a demonstration that had been banned by the government, and Islamic right-wing extremists. Thirty-nine persons were reportedly treated for bullet or stab wounds. About 5,000 members of a faction of the Marxist-Leninist Fedayeen movement and the leftist Peykar group had gathered to protest the deterioration of Iran's economy. [New York Times]
- Ian Paisley and other Protestants in Northern Ireland pledged a "fight to the death" against reunification with the Irish Republic. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 952.30 (+5.54, +0.59%)
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* |
| February 5, 1981 | 946.76 | 129.63 | 45.31 |
| February 4, 1981 | 941.98 | 128.59 | 45.53 |
| February 3, 1981 | 941.38 | 128.46 | 45.95 |
| February 2, 1981 | 932.17 | 126.91 | 44.08 |
| January 30, 1981 | 947.27 | 129.55 | 41.16 |
| January 29, 1981 | 948.89 | 130.24 | 38.16 |
| January 28, 1981 | 942.58 | 130.34 | 36.69 |
| January 27, 1981 | 949.49 | 131.12 | 42.25 |
| January 26, 1981 | 938.91 | 129.84 | 35.37 |
| January 23, 1981 | 940.19 | 130.23 | 37.22 |