News stories from Wednesday January 7, 1981

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

A direct role in the hostage crisis was pressed by Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher. In an unexpected move, the State Department announced that he was flying to Algiers to discuss the negotiations to free the 52 Americans held in Iran. Earlier, the department said that "important questions remain to be solved" to end the crisis.Efforts to break the deadlock over freedom for the hostages were accelerated by the Algerian intermediaries in Teheran. They presented new, undisclosed suggestions to Iran, according to a key Iranian negotiator who said that the ideas had generally been accepted in principle. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan offered an olive branch to Senate Democrats. In a dramatic gesture, the President-elect announced that Mike Mansfield, the former Senate majority leader, would be retained as Ambassador to Japan. Also on the second day of activities in Washington, Mr. Reagan completed the selection of his cabinet by choosing T.H. Bell to be Secretary of Education. [New York Times] A Reagan appointee who is under fire defended himself. James Watt, whose designation as Secretary of the Interior is bitterly opposed by most environmental groups, said at a Senate confirmation hearing that he could fulfill his commitment to preserving federal lands while speeding an orderly development of energy and water resources on the government's more than 422 million acres. [New York Times] Reduced subsidies for mass transit are favored by Drew Lewis, the Secretary of Transportation-designate. He told a Senate hearing that he backed continued federal aid for the acquisition of buses and other capital needs, but that day-to-day operations of transit systems should be financed by fare revenues, with any subsidies provided only by states and municipalities. [New York Times] Strategy for the confirmation hearing on President-elect Reagan's nomination of Alexander Haig to be Sec-retary of State was planned in a two-hour meeting of Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They insisted they did not want to "rehash Watergate." [New York Times] Appraisals of the Carter presidency by some seasoned observers included praise for such accomplishments as the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, the establishment of full diplomatic relations with China and the President's energy program. But the comments were generally critical and sometimes harsh and suggested that perhaps Jimmy Carter's most memorable achievement was getting elected in 1976. [New York Times] Segregation in state universities was cited in letters sent to the Governors of Alabama, Delaware, South Carolina and West Virginia by the Department of Education, which acted under a federal court order. Similar warnings about unconstitutional segregation are expected to be sent to Kentucky, Missouri and Texas. The states could theoretically lose much federal aid, but parallel cases have dragged on in the courts for years. [New York Times] A warning on nuclear emergencies was issued by a federal safety committee. It said that, nearly two years after the accident that crippled the Three Mile Island power plant in Middletown, Pa., no firm policy had been set on plans for emergency protection for the 3.3 million Americans living near the nation's 73 operating nuclear plants. [New York Times] Efforts to reduce water leaks were pressed by New York City officials in advance of an expected declaration of a drought emergency within several weeks. The new measures include the use of a new electronic detector that officials say can pinpoint water leaks in underground mains to within an eighth of an inch. [New York Times] Governor Carey of New York called for tax cuts for businesses and individuals, rises in welfare grants, increased aid for mass transit, a state takeover of local Medicaid costs and stringent measures to combat street crime, The ambitious program, unveiled in Mr. Carey's seventh State of the State message opening the legislative session, would take effect slowly, providing an opportunity for both financial and political maneuvering.A dim financial outlook for Connecticut was projected by Gov. William O'Neill as he opened the state's legislative session. He said he favored cutting spending rather than increasing taxes to eliminate a deficit in the current budget and added that balancing the budget for the next fiscal year would be even harder. [New York Times] An advance in the cloning of mice was reported by a Swiss scientist. He said that multiple, genetically identical mice had been produced in the laboratory by transplanting cell nuclei from a single embryo. [New York Times] The strongest link between cholesterol and heart disease emerged from an analysis of deaths among 1,900 middle-aged American men whose diets and cholesterol levels were first examined more than 20 years ago. The study, one of the largest and longest of its kind, has shown that consumption of large amounts of cholesterol increased the men's risk of dying prematurely of a heart attack. [New York Times] A crucial parley on South-West Africa opened in Geneva. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim of the United Nations called on South Africa and the insurgents to reach "a firm agreement" on a cease-fire date to pave the way for independence for the territory, which is also known as Namibia, by the end of this year. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 980.89 (-23.80, -2.37%)
S&P Composite: 135.08 (-3.04, -2.20%)
Arms Index: 2.41

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	219	5.00
Declines	1,552	85.48
Unchanged	170	2.40
Total Volume		92.89

* 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*
January 6, 1981	1004.69	138.12	67.40
January 5, 1981	992.66	137.97	58.71
January 2, 1981	972.78	136.34	28.86
December 31, 1980	963.99	135.76	41.21
December 30, 1980	962.03	135.33	39.75
December 29, 1980	960.58	135.03	36.05
December 26, 1980	966.38	136.57	16.13
December 24, 1980	963.05	135.88	29.48
December 23, 1980	958.28	135.00	55.25
December 22, 1980	958.79	135.78	51.96