News stories from Monday May 4, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A budget victory for President Reagan was expected in the House on Wednesday. Democratic leaders conceded that they lacked the votes to block the $689 billion budget endorsed by the White House as Mr. Reagan won additional support in meetings with conservative Democrats. [New York Times]
- The emergence of a coalition of Republicans and conservative, mostly Southern Democrats is considered likely to result from President Reagan's popularity and his intensive lobbying efforts. Mr. Reagan's strategy is grounded on the common policies of fiscal conservatism and high military spending. [New York Times]
- Efforts to control the money supply were pressed by the Federal Reserve Board. Among other steps to ease the fast-growing supply, the Fed marked up its bellwether interest rate from 13 percent to a new high of 14 percent. This increase in the discount rate on loans to commercial banks followed a day of broad increases in money-market interest rates, including a one-point jump, to 19 percent, in the prime rate on loans charged by banks. [New York Times]
- Boston's insolvent school system won a respite. Gov. Edward King of Massachusetts signed a bill providing the city with $9.4 million in overdue reimbursements for school construction. [New York Times]
- A new incentive to aid desegregation of schools in St. Louis and nearby counties was proposed by the Justice Department and the city's school board. Under the plan, the state of Missouri would offer free college tuition to pupils who volunteered to attend schools outside their neigborhoods. [New York Times]
- Multilingualism is increasing throughout the nation. Reports from a dozen key states indicate that the trend is a result of new waves of immigration of millions of Latin Americans and Asians, heightened civil rights sensitivities and the big travel market represented by groups whose main language is not English. [New York Times]
- Protection against double jeopardy was extended by the Supreme Court beyond the question of guilt to a sentencing. The Court ruled, 5 to 4, that a defendant who is convicted of murder and spared a death sentence and who is later found to be entitled to a new trial cannot receive the death sentence on a second conviction. [New York Times]
- Carbon monoxide ingested by smokers has long been suspected of causing a number of ailments. The Federal Trade Commission made public the results of its first tests on the amount of the gas released from 187 brands of American-made cigarettes. [New York Times]
- Syria resisted diplomatic pressure to withdraw antiaircraft missiles from Lebanon. Informed sources in Beirut said that Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel had warned American and Soviet intermediaries that Israel would open fire on the missiles if they were not removed by a specific deadline. [New York Times]
- New Soviet military activity in Poland was reported by Western military sources in Warsaw. They said that the troops appeared to be putting up an extensive network of microwave radio towers for military communications in one region. Other Soviet troops were said to be upgrading private communications channels and equipment around military bases. [New York Times]
- A plan for arms talks on Europe was reported by sources at the NATO foreign ministers' conference in Rome. They said that Secretary of State Alexander Haig had disclosed that President Reagan wrote a letter to Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, informing him that the United States was ready to begin talks later this year on limiting medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe. [New York Times]
- Military aid to Guatemala is strongly favored by the Reagan administration, according to John Bushnell, a senior State Department official. At a Senate hearing, he testified that a "major insurgency" was underway. [New York Times]
- Robert Sands died in a Belfast prison after a 66-day hunger strike. The Irish Republican Army prisoner and Member of Parliament had fasted in an effort to force the British Government to recognize I.R.A. inmates as political prisoners rather than common criminals. [New York Times]
- Terrorism erupted in Spain as gunmen killed a general and a policeman in a fashionable section of Madrid. Two terrorists and four bystanders were wounded. In Barcelona, two Civil Guardsmen were slain while eating breakfast in a bar. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 979.11 (-16.48, -1.66%)
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* |
| May 1, 1981 | 995.59 | 132.72 | 48.35 |
| April 30, 1981 | 997.75 | 132.81 | 47.96 |
| April 29, 1981 | 1004.32 | 133.05 | 53.34 |
| April 28, 1981 | 1016.93 | 134.33 | 58.21 |
| April 27, 1981 | 1024.05 | 135.48 | 51.08 |
| April 24, 1981 | 1020.35 | 135.14 | 59.90 |
| April 23, 1981 | 1010.27 | 133.94 | 64.20 |
| April 22, 1981 | 1007.02 | 134.14 | 60.65 |
| April 21, 1981 | 1005.94 | 134.23 | 60.29 |
| April 20, 1981 | 1015.94 | 135.45 | 51.01 |