News stories from Thursday August 19, 1982

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

The $98.3 billion tax bill was approved by both houses of Congress, giving President Reagan a major victory. The House of representatives, considered the biggest stumbling block to passage, voted 226 to 207 at about 6 P.M. An hour later, the Senate took up the bill, passing it in three hours by a 52-47 vote. The President had said the bill was necessary to insure economic recovery. [New York Times] Mexico's severe financial problems sent international bankers scrambling to arrange a wide-ranging financing program to keep the country from running out of cash and to stop a run on the peso. [New York Times] Senate action on abortion and prayer in public schools was thwarted by liberal and moderate Senators who persisted in a filibuster. [New York Times] Federal laws barring discrimination on the basis of sex apply to private educational institutions whose students receive federal scholarship loans and grants, a federal appeals court has ruled. [New York Times] Former air traffic controllers, who lost their jobs after going on strike, are being allowed to apply for employement with the Postal Service, according to Moe Biller, general president of the American Postal Workers Union. The Postal Service and the Department of Defense are the only federal agencies that continue to hire personnel. [New York Times] U.S. News & World Report has sued the U.S. Labor Party for $1.5 million, charging that affiliates of the party had impersonated the magazine's White House reporter. [New York Times] A radio station to broadcast to Cuba was pursued again by Reagan administration officials who sought to persuade Senators to approve measures that would create the station. The results of the lobbying, however, were mixed. [New York Times] A novel approach to insect control is being tested by scientists in Texas. Researchers in the Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service have found that in experiments "males of one species are trying to mate with females of another species" and that the mismatch results in death. [New York Times] Israel approved a withdrawal plan for up to 15,000 Palestinian and Syrian forces in west Beirut. The plan that the Israeli cabinet approved, which was drafted by Philip Habib, President Reagan's special envoy, calls for the transfer of the guerrillas to other Arab countries after two Israelis who were captured are returned. The departure is to be supervised by American, French and Italian troops. [New York Times] Fears of a new major Israeli drive, this one against the Palestinian guerrillas in northern Lebanon and in the Bekaa Valley in the east are growing as people in the north look anxiously toward the end of the Beirut crisis. The fear is that if the Israelis move against the guerrillas again that the Lebanese will once more be caught in the middle. [New York Times] "We have orders, we must go," said a Palestinian lieutenant using the name Abu Jihad. The weary guerrillas seemed resigned to being scattered to other Arab countries when they are evacuated from west Beirut. [New York Times] The White House was pleased by Israel's approval of the evacuation plan and said that this "sets the stage" for the beginning of the withdrawal of Palestinian and Syrian forces possibly as early as this weekend. However, the Reagan administration said that some last minute details still had to be worked out. [New York Times] Questions abound in the Arab world concerning the dispersal of at least 7,000 Palestinian guerrillas from west Beirut to eight or more Arab countries. Yet there seems to be general agreement on at least one thing -- linked with the awkward task of dealing with armed Palestinians and the political passions they have aroused is the unsolved question of a Palestinian homeland. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 838.57 (+9.14, +1.10%)
S&P Composite: 109.16 (+0.63, +0.58%)
Arms Index: 0.64

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	793	42.13
Declines	705	24.03
Unchanged	430	12.11
Total Volume		78.27

* 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*
August 18, 1982	829.43	108.53	132.68
August 17, 1982	831.24	109.04	92.86
August 16, 1982	792.43	104.09	55.42
August 13, 1982	788.05	103.85	44.72
August 12, 1982	776.92	102.42	50.04
August 11, 1982	777.21	102.60	49.04
August 10, 1982	779.30	102.84	52.65
August 9, 1982	780.35	103.08	54.56
August 6, 1982	784.34	103.71	48.65
August 5, 1982	795.85	105.16	54.69