News stories from Tuesday March 24, 1981

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

Soaring energy costs arising in large part from President Reagan's order to decontrol oil prices pushed the Consumer Price Index up 1 percent last month to a 12.7 percent annual rate of increase. Without the energy price increases, the rise would have been only three-tenths of 1 percent, the smallest in three months. [New York Times] A proposed coal pact won approval by the bargaining council of the United Mine Workers. But Sam Church, the union president, said that a strike of four to five days would occur because of the time required for the rank and file to ratify the accord. [New York Times] Military aid to El Salvador totaling $5 million was approved by a House subcommittee after 90 minutes of often emotional and partisan debate. The Reagan administration waged an intensive last-minute campaign with the panel members, who approved the measure by a vote of 8 to 7. [New York Times] A dispute over foreign policymaking became public in testimony by Secretary of State Alexander Haig before a House subcommittee. He questioned a White House plan to put Vice President Bush in charge of the administration's "crisis management" team. Hours after Mr. Haig had seemingly put his prestige on the line in saying that he regarded the possibility of Mr. Bush's getting the position with "a lack of enthusiasm," the White House named Mr. Bush to the foreign policy post. [New York Times] A bill to block higher dairy supports is expected to be approved by the Senate tomorrow. A majority of Senators defeated a series of attempts to cripple the measure, which is backed strongly by the Reagan administration. [New York Times] Free-market broadcasting was upheld in a 7-to-2 ruling by the Supreme Court. It affirmed the Federal Communication Commission's view that changes in a radio station's entertainment programming are not subject to federal regulation. The Court, in effect, deferred to the commission's position that open-market forces are adequate to insure diversity. [New York Times] Efforts to aid Chicago-area transit were pressed by Gov. James Thompson of Illinois. He proposed a restructuring of the regional transportation authority and a new 5 percent tax on the gross receipts of oil companies doing business in Illinois to keep the system solvent and to provide more money to build and maintain state highways. [New York Times] The prospective impact of budget cuts proposed by President Reagan on urban centers in the Northeast is reflected in Rochester, a shrinking industrial city that has been struggling for renewal after two decades of decline. In prospect are the eventual demise of city government and the beginning of metropolitan-wide government by default. Some specialists denounce the proposed cuts as partisan. [New York Times] CBS News surrendered transcripts and tapes of interviews conducted for a "60 Minutes" program on alleged frauds involving fast food franchises after a federal judge threatened the network with a large contempt fine. But lawyers for the network said they would appeal the judge's decision to give transcripts already in his possession to six men who face trial Monday on charges of swindling investors in a New Jersey-based fast food chain out of millions of dollars. [New York Times] A town is accused of discrimination in refusing federal housing aid. The Justice Department is preparing to go to trial April 19 to compel Manchester, Conn., to rejoin a grant program and accept about $500,000 that the residents have voted twice to reject. The department alleges that the town wants to remain "racially exclusive." [New York Times] The end of a cocaine-use inquiry was urged by a special federal prosecutor who had investigated allegations that Tim Kraft, a senior White House aide in the Carter administration, used the drug. In court papers, the prosecutor said that the "credible evidence" gathered by his staff and F.B.I. agents did not warrant an indictment or further investigation. [New York Times] Polish unionists became more militant, calling a four-hour warning strike for Friday and a general strike to begin next Tuesday as a protest against police violence in Bydgoszcz last week and the authorities' refusal to make amends. But the union's leadership made clear that the stoppages would be called off if negotiations set for tomorrow with government leaders proved satisfactory. Stanislaw Kania, the Polish leader, denounced the union's announcement as "an invitation for self-annihilation." [New York Times] Emergency aid to Poland in the form of new credits and food to help alleviate hardship was pledged by leaders of the 10 European Common Market countries. They warned that any Soviet intervention in Poland would have "very serious consequences." [New York Times] Spain's King urged military restraint in the face of stepped-up terrorism by Basque separatists after the government decided to deploy army units in the northern region. Juan Carlos called on the top military commanders to maintain discipline and to refrain from impulsive actions. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 996.13 (-8.10, -0.81%)
S&P Composite: 134.67 (-1.02, -0.75%)
Arms Index: 1.20

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	659	22.04
Declines	935	37.55
Unchanged	361	6.81
Total Volume		66.40

* 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 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
March 10, 1981	972.66	130.46	56.61