News stories from Tuesday August 3, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Substantial new spending cuts in social programs must be made next year to allow a long-term economic recovery, according to the federal budget director, David Stockman. He told the Senate Budget Committee that benefit programs would have to be reduced "in a major way" to bring down federal deficits. [New York Times]
- The administraton shifted in its long-standing opposition to congressional efforts to extend unemployment insurance benefits. After issuing conflicting statements, White House officials said they would probably support proposed legislation to extend the benefits beyond the current maximum of 39 weeks. [New York Times]
- Balanced budget advocates conceded that the prospect for Senate approval of a constitutional amendment to insure a balance had dimmed considerably. They made the concession after an unusual coaliton of fiscal conservatives and liberal Democrats adopted, by a vote of 51 to 45, a change requiring a three-fifths vote of Congress to raise the national debt limit. [New York Times]
- The builders of the Stealth bomber have said they could produce the radar-evading craft three years earlier than planned, according to Pentagon and congressional officials. But the Pentagon has rejected the proposal as unrealistic and risky. Congressional advocates of the Stealth contend that the B-1 bomber program, now underway, is unnecessary and that the Reagan administration has stalled development of the Stealth to avoid jeopardizing the B-1. [New York Times]
- President Reagan urged Catholics to reject the call for a nuclear weapons freeze that has been backed by many Catholic bishops. In a speech in Hartford before leaders of the Knights of Columbus, Mr. Reagan charged that a nuclear arms freeze would be "obsolete" and "sterile." [New York Times]
- Revision of the strip mine control act is still being sought by the Reagan administration. Interior Secretary James Watt announced at a ceremony that Ohio and Tennessee had been formally granted the primary responsibility for enforcing the 1977 act in their borders. [New York Times]
- Attorneys for John W. Hinckley have suggested that he would agree to be committed indefinitely to a Washington hospital for psychiatric treatment, according to informed sources. Government lawyers were evaluating the offer. [New York Times]
- Israeli forces thrust into west Beirut along two main crossing points with east Beirut. The offensive by armored units advanced under the cover of heavy artillery fire. The Israeli strike followed a day of intense negotiations in which significant progress was reported on an evacuation of the 6,000 Palestinian fighters trapped in west Beirut. [New York Times]
- The State Department said the reported movement of Israeli tanks into west Beirut directly threatened the peace efforts of the special United States envoy, Philip Habib. A department spokeman said that "any military movements which hinder Mr. Habib's efforts to bring about a solution to the Beirut crisis are unhelpful." Earlier, Israel's Foreign Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, accused leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization of "deliberately dragging negotiations." [New York Times]
- Israel was criticized by United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar hours before the lastest Israeli offensive. He accused the Israeli government of delaying the deployment of United Nations officers to monitor the latest cease-fire in Beirut. Israel said the cabinet would discuss the issue on Thursday. [New York Times]
- China warned Washington that American-Chinese cultural exchanges would suffer if the Reagan administration granted political asylum to China's top female tennis player. The 19-year-old tennis player, Hu Na, defected during an international tennis tournament in California. [New York Times]
- A resettlement airlift of Afghans began in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, as a jet took off with 355 refugees for eastern Turkey. Their departure marked the start of the first and for now, apparently, the last resettlement airlift of about 4,000 of a total of 2.7 million people displaced by the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 816.40 (-5.71, -0.69%)
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 2, 1982 | 822.11 | 108.98 | 53.48 |
| July 30, 1982 | 808.60 | 107.09 | 39.27 |
| July 29, 1982 | 812.21 | 107.72 | 55.67 |
| July 28, 1982 | 811.83 | 107.73 | 53.84 |
| July 27, 1982 | 822.77 | 109.43 | 45.73 |
| July 26, 1982 | 825.44 | 110.36 | 37.73 |
| July 23, 1982 | 830.57 | 111.17 | 47.28 |
| July 22, 1982 | 832.00 | 111.47 | 53.86 |
| July 21, 1982 | 832.19 | 111.42 | 66.77 |
| July 20, 1982 | 833.43 | 111.54 | 61.05 |