News stories from Tuesday September 1, 1981

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

A slowed rise in military spending was predicted by congressional sources and confirmed by the Pentagon. The sources said that the Reagan administration planned to ask Congress to cut $10 billion to $15 billion from the scheduled increase in the defense appropriation for the coming fiscal year. A White House spokesman said that President Reagan was also ready to seek other cuts to hold down the federal budget deficit. [New York Times] John W. Hinckley was denied bail by a federal judge after a 30-minute hearing. The government contended that Mr. Hinckley, who is accused of trying to kill President Reagan and assaulting three other men on March 30, would probably flee if he were released and that freedom might jeopardize his safety. [New York Times] The rush to retire seems to be easing. Under the pressure of inflation, the number of retirees, which rose steeply every year since the program was founded in the New Deal era, has begun to taper off. By about 1985, the rate at which Americans leave the workforce, now about 1.8 million a year, could begin dropping if the trend of the last decade continues, easing the burden on Social Security. [New York Times] Albert Speer, the Nazi leader, died in a London hospital at the age of 76. During World War II, he kept Hitler's war machine running with forced labor and meticulous planning. [New York Times] Anti-American acts in West Germany accelerated. Arsonists destroyed seven autos belonging to United States Air Force personnel in Wiesbaden and defaced and set fire to an office building in Frankfurt. [New York Times] Iran announced the appointment of a provisional Prime Minister and a new leader for the ruling Islamic Republican Party to succeed officials killed in a bomb explosion Sunday. At least two more assassinations were reported in uneasy Teheran, and Ayatollah Khomeini urged his followers to exercise restraint. [New York Times] An oil accord was reached in Canada after long and bitter wrangling. The federal government and Alberta, the chief petroleum producing province, reached a five-year agreement that will permit Canadian oil prices to rise in stages. The energy pricing fight has become a symbol of Canada's fractious federalism. [New York Times] Stricter arms control verification is being pressed by the Reagan administration, according to its officials. They said that the Soviet Union had been informed that on-site inspection and other direct verification would be required in future agreements on strategic weapons and on medium-range missiles in Europe. [New York Times] South African-Soviet military contact during the eight-day incursion into Angola against black nationalist guerrillas was reported by the Defense Ministry in Cape Town. It said that South African troops had killed an unspecified number of Soviet army officers and had captured a Soviet warrant officer. Moscow has sent aid and development experts to Angola, but has never admitted having military personnel there. [New York Times] Indian-American relations worsened as New Delhi refused to accept a United States diplomat. The Reagan administration charged that the diplomat was the victim of "a Soviet disinformation campaign." [New York Times] A gain for U.S.-Chinese cultural ties was marked with the opening in Peking of the first United States government-sponsored art exhibition in China since the Communists seized power in 1949. American officials firmly refused last-minute demands by the Chinese to remove 13 modern abstract paintings from the show, and the Chinese backed down. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 882.71 (+1.24, +0.14%)
S&P Composite: 123.02 (+0.23, +0.19%)
Arms Index: 0.67

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	598	20.39
Declines	863	19.65
Unchanged	421	5.07
Total Volume		45.11

* 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 31, 1981	881.47	122.79	40.36
August 28, 1981	892.22	124.08	38.02
August 27, 1981	889.08	123.51	43.91
August 26, 1981	899.26	124.96	39.98
August 25, 1981	901.83	125.13	54.60
August 24, 1981	900.11	125.50	46.74
August 21, 1981	920.57	129.23	37.67
August 20, 1981	928.37	130.69	38.27
August 19, 1981	926.46	130.49	39.39
August 18, 1981	924.37	130.11	47.26