News stories from Wednesday February 17, 1982

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

Some flexibility on budget cuts, including military items, was reflected by David Stockman, the budget director, in a five-hour appearance before the Democratic-controlled House Budget Committee. [New York Times] A Ford-labor agreement advanced as local leaders of the United Automobile Workers voted 144 to 12 to accept a tentative accord with the auto company that calls for wage and benefit concessions and new assurances on job security. A ratification vote by the 150,000 union members is to be completed by Feb. 28. [New York Times] The threat of a global depression within two years was cited by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. In an interview, the West German leader said that the United States does not fully understand that if the projected American budget deficits materialize, they are likely to lead to still higher interest rates and to worldwide political and social destabilization. [New York Times] A family of seven was slain by shotgun blasts at their rural home outside Farwell, Mich. The police said they had a "very weak suspect," but knew of no motive for the slaying of the family headed by a mail carrier who was also a school board official. [New York Times] Lee Strasberg died of a heart attack at the age of 80. Mr. Strasberg, father of Method acting in the United States, was a master teacher, artistic director of the Actors Studio, a stage director, film actor and a major figure in world theater. [New York Times] Thelonious Monk died at at the age of 64, 12 days after he suffered a stroke. The wry melodies and unusual harmonic progressions of the celebrated painist and composer are considered to be among the most striking contributions to the jazz repertory. [New York Times] Assertions of military service involving former Representative Bruce Caputo, a Republican candidate for Senator from New York, created a stir. Mr. Caputo has described himself as a Vietnam-era "draftee" and an Army lieutenant, though he was neither. He acknowledged he had not served in the Army and had taken a civilian job in the Pentagon to avoid being drafted. [New York Times] The ability to become pregnant apparently decreases sharply from the age of 31 to 35, according to a major study of female fertility. The research, conducted among 2,193 women, shows the decline to be earlier and more precipitious than had generally been thought. [New York Times] A two-day police sweep in Poland found 145,000 people to have been violating martial-law regulations, the authorities announced. As punishment, they said, 128,000 people were issued warnings, 3,500 were detained for questioning, 7,000 were fined a total of $29,000 and 4,000 were given court summonses. [New York Times] Concern over nuclear proliferation was expressed by Hans Blix, the new chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He warned that nuclear weapons could soon be acquired by India, Pakistan, South Africa and Israel but said there was little the agency could do to stop them that it is not already doing. [New York Times] Zimbabwe's unity regime broke apart as Prime Minister Robert Mugabe dismissed his partner, Joshua Nkomo, from the cabinet and accused him of plotting to overthrow the government by force. The dismissal of Mr. Nkomo and three members of his party effectively ended the coalition that was established 22 months ago when Rhodesia became independent. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 827.63 (-3.71, -0.45%)
S&P Composite: 113.69 (-0.37, -0.32%)
Arms Index: 1.17

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	698	18.83
Declines	696	22.04
Unchanged	471	6.79
Total Volume		47.66

* 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*
February 16, 1982	831.34	114.06	48.88
February 12, 1982	833.81	114.38	37.08
February 11, 1982	834.67	114.43	46.62
February 10, 1982	836.66	114.66	46.60
February 9, 1982	830.57	113.68	54.42
February 8, 1982	833.43	114.63	48.50
February 5, 1982	851.03	117.26	53.34
February 4, 1982	847.03	116.42	53.30
February 3, 1982	845.03	116.48	49.56
February 2, 1982	852.55	118.01	45.01