News stories from Wednesday March 25, 1981

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

The first Reagan budget victory in Congress was recorded as the Senate approved the President's plan to cancel a scheduled April 1 increase in milk price supports. By a vote of 88 to 5, the chamber adopted a bill that is expected to save the taxpayers $147 million this year in payments to farmers and avert a projected 8-cent-a-gallon rise in retail milk prices. House approval of the bill is expected tomorrow. [New York Times] A defeat for the broad tax-cut plan proposed by President Reagan was predicted by the chief tax writer in the House. Representative Daniel Rostenkowski of Illinois said that the Democratic-controlled House would approve a measure covering only one year instead of three, and that the reductions would not be 10 percent for all taxpayers, but more heavily weighted to lower-income taxpayers. [New York Times] The status of Alexander Haig created a stir. President Reagan reaffirmed that the Secretary of State was his "primary adviser on foreign affairs," but presidential aides said that the tension between Mr. Haig and the senior White House staff was much more severe than had been publicly acknowledged. A presidential adviser said that Mr. Haig had threatened to resign eight or nine times before Vice President Bush won a key policy- making post Tuesday. [New York Times] A sweeping deregulation program was announced by Vice President Bush. He said that the government was killing or postponing indefinitely implementation of 36 of the 172 regulations proposed in the final weeks of the Carter administration. He also said that the Reagan administration might modify 27 existing rules, ranging from the marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables to approval of new drugs. [New York Times] Fiscal austerity is backed in Tulsa and throughout the prosperous Southwest by leaders who support proposed federal budget cuts. But despite the booming oil economy in the region, critics say that the poor and unemployed would get reduced services. [New York Times] Opposition to policy In El Salvador is being expressed in hundreds of letters a week that are being received by key members of Congress. The letters oppose the Reagan administration's decision to send military aid to the country and, according to legislators, the protests are beginning to influence congressional opinion. [New York Times] Delays in Trident submarine building were largely attributed by a manufacturer to defective equipment furnished by the Navy and to design changes required by the Navy. In congressional testimony, the general manager of the Electric Boat shipyard vigorously defended the performance of the Groton, Conn., company. [New York Times] Oppostion to the Moral Majority is emerging in the South. One year after the evangelical activists swept out of the Sun Belt to help make a conservative imprint on last fall's elections, a protest against the movement is increasing among Southern Baptists and other moderate evangelicals. [New York Times] The driest March on record in a region that includes New York and New Jersey was reported by the Delaware River Basin Commission. It said that the sharp drop in rainfall this month after the heavy rains in February had intensified the "drought emergency," and it approved the piping of 20 million gallons of water a day from New York City to North Jersey. [New York Times] Salvador Dali Is striving, despite failing health, to untangle his business and personal life. The 76-year-old Surrealist is the center of a number of scandals, including the destiny of thousands of blank sheets of lithograph paper that he has signed over the years. [New York Times] An alleged spy case is stirring London. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is to address Parliament tomorrow about the assertion that a former chief of British counterintelligence may have been a Soviet agent. The allegation was made in a new book. [New York Times] New labor talks began in Warsaw under the threat of a series of strikes that are to start Saturday. Representatives of the government and the independent union held unproductive negotiations for 80 minutes and adjourned until Friday. [New York Times] A food shortage in Africa is endangering about 150 million people and, despite an international aid program, thousands are expected to die. The crisis arises from increasing births, drought, war, the rising cost of oil and increased growing of export crops to pay for the oil. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1015.22 (+19.09, +1.92%)
S&P Composite: 137.11 (+2.44, +1.81%)
Arms Index: 0.40

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,097	44.64
Declines	510	8.22
Unchanged	337	3.46
Total Volume		56.32

* 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*
March 24, 1981	996.13	134.67	66.40
March 23, 1981	1004.23	135.69	57.87
March 20, 1981	992.80	134.08	61.97
March 19, 1981	986.58	133.46	62.44
March 18, 1981	994.06	134.22	55.74
March 17, 1981	992.53	133.92	65.92
March 16, 1981	1002.79	134.68	49.94
March 13, 1981	985.77	133.11	68.29
March 12, 1981	989.82	133.19	54.63
March 11, 1981	967.67	129.95	47.39