News stories from Friday May 23, 1980

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

Australia will attend the Olympics in Moscow this summer. The Australian Olympic Federation, delaying its decision until the last moment, voted by a narrow margin to participate, rebuffing the government, which was one of the first to publicly support President Carter's call for a boycott. [New York Times] Plentiful gasoline this summer is expected by oil experts, but it will cost more despite the current surplus caused by this year's sharp drop in demand. An increase of three to four cents a gallon following the recent OPEC increases was predicted by Deputy Energy Secretary John Sawhill. [New York Times] The rate of inflation declined sharply to 0.9 percent in April, reflecting a moderation in the prices of a wide range of consumer goods, the government reported. The decline was regarded by the administration and non-government economists as the first indication of an expected break in the rate of inflation, which was running at a projected 18 percent rate in the first three months of this year. [New York Times] Recent restraints on consumer loans are not likely to be ended soon, despite the Federal Reserve's sharp reduction in credit controls it imposed March 14 as its contribution to President Carter's anti-inflation program. Removal of controls on consumer credit is likely to happen only gradually, lenders say. Banks and department stores said they had no immediate plans to end their tighter credit requirements. [New York Times] Baseball's labor dispute was settled, averting a strike by fewer than 10 hours. The settlement followed the owners' and players' acceptance of a proposal to defer the free-agent compensation issue, which provides for a four-man joint committee to study the free-agent system and report on it next January. [New York Times] The Pentagon is willing to agree to a proposal to deploy only half the planned number of MX missiles in Utah and Nevada, hoping to override Senate objections to the missile program. Defense officials are hacking a proposed amendment to the military authorization bill for the fiscal year 1981 that would prohibit the Air Force for the time being from placing more than 100 of its of its 200 MX missiles in Utah and Nevada. [New York Times] A prisoner was killed by four gunmen who invaded the Lorton Reformatory, a District of Columbia prison, in Lorton, Va. Inmates and guards were seized, and a dormitory was searched for Douglas Boney, who was hiding. He was shot but managed to run outside to the yard, where he was followed and slain, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. [New York Times] Five suspended Miami policemen will return to work Tuesday, averting a walkout by police officers from Miami and other communities who protested the suspensions. Four of the five officers had been suspended over alleged vandalism of cars of suspected looters in last weekend's racial riots. Another had been accused of striking a woman on the head with a rifle butt. [New York Times] Permanent relocation of 710 families living in the contaminated Love Canal area of Niagara Falls was proposed by Governor Carey, who has asked the government to pay most of the $25 million housing costs. The state's share would be $5 million. Mr. Carey said permanent housing for the families would be a cheaper and "more humane" way of resolving the families' housing problem. [New York Times] Maria Torres was sentenced to life imprisonment following her conviction of a federal bombing charge arising from a 1977 explosion that killed one person and injured several others in the Mobil Oil Building in Manhattan. She was arrested last month with several others, including her husband, Carlos Torres, suspects in other bombings attributed to a Puerto Rican terrorist group, called the F.A.L.N. [New York Times] President Park Chung Hee's assassin was executed by hanging in Seoul. Kim Jae Kyu died with four other men who were condemned to death for helping him with the President Park's murder last Oct. 26. Mr. Kim's execution is believed certain to raise political tension in South Korea. The revolt in the provincial city of Kwangju continued. The army encircled the city with troops and tanks, and the residents prepared for an attack. [New York Times] Further talks with the Soviet Union are planned by the administration following last week's meeting between Secretary of State Edmund Muskie and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, a State Department official said. [New York Times] The Vatican ordered curbs on "abuses" in Roman Catholic ritual. A document issued with the approval of Pope John Paul II said that "undue experimentation, changes and creativity bewilder the faithful." Among the abuses cited was the growing role of lay persons in celebrating mass and distributing communion, and the substitution of other readings for prayers and scriptures authorized by Rome. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 854.10 (+11.18, +1.33%)
S&P Composite: 110.62 (+1.61, +1.48%)
Arms Index: 0.59

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,207	34.85
Declines	388	6.62
Unchanged	320	4.32
Total Volume		45.79

* 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*
May 22, 1980	842.92	109.01	41.02
May 21, 1980	831.06	107.72	34.83
May 20, 1980	832.51	107.62	31.80
May 19, 1980	830.89	107.67	30.97
May 16, 1980	826.88	107.35	31.71
May 15, 1980	822.53	106.99	40.91
May 14, 1980	819.62	106.85	40.84
May 13, 1980	816.89	106.30	35.45
May 12, 1980	805.20	104.78	28.21
May 9, 1980	805.80	104.72	30.28