News stories from Wednesday January 20, 1982

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

Temporary rises in gasoline taxes as well as higher excise taxes on cigarettes, whisky and wine but not beer will be sought by President Reagan, according to administration officials. They said he had made the final decisions on the new budget. [New York Times] Massive new military spending is in prospect, according to congressional officials. They said that the Pentagon had recommended to President Reagan that 50 of the biggest cargo planes be bought to start a multibillion-dollar transport program for the Rapid Deployment Force. [New York Times] The President has been successful in persuading Congress to embrace his economic policy in his first year in office but less successful with the economy itself. The recession is one reason Democrats no longer worry about losing their House majority next fall. However, most people say they believe that the Reagan program will help the economy in the long run. [New York Times] Auto labor talks were suspended after negotiators for the United Automobile Workers and General Motors and Ford failed to reach agreement on job security, the size of wage and benefit concessions by the workers and the duration of a new contract. But officials of G.M. and the union said that an agreement in principle to link concessions by the workers to lower car prices would remain in effect. [New York Times] Young men who failed to register on time for a possible draft have until Feb. 28 to sign up without fear of prosecution. Announcement of the grace period was made by the director of Selective Service. [New York Times] Seven miners were killed after an explosion blackened a mountainside and hurled debris into treetops in southeastern Kentucky. Teams of rescue crews found the bodies after digging through the rubble for more than nine hours. [New York Times] Two flight recorders were retrieved by Navy divers from the wreckage of the Air Florida jetliner that crashed a week ago in the Potomac River in Washington, killing 78 persons. The devices were reported to be in excellent condition. [New York Times] Enforcing bans on the export of American technology to unfriendly countries is extremely difficult. This is illustrated by the 1978 sale to Libya of 400 heavy-duty trucks. Libya guaranteed in writing that the vehicles would be used only for agriculture, and the manufacturer argued that it would be very difficult and expensive for Libya to modify the trucks for military use. Today, the 400 trucks are hauling Soviet-made tanks in Libya. [New York Times] The U.S. military command in Saigon suppressed and altered estimates of the size and strength of Communist forces before the 1968 Tet Offensive, according to former American intelligence officers. In a TV program, they told CBS News that the changes were made to prevent "gloomy" news reports from contradicting official forecasts that the United States was winning the Vietnam War. [New York Times] Poland's severe shortage of bread and flour was acknowledged by the martial law regime, which announced measures designed to force farmers to sell grain to the state. [New York Times] A conciliatory stance by Moscow appeared to be indicated by Prime Minister Nikolai Tikhonov. Speaking at a Kremlin luncheon, he said that Moscow "does not seek confrontation" with Washington and was doing all it could "to direct the course of events into constructive dialogue." [New York Times] Israel has reassured the United States that it will not make attacks in Lebanon unless there is a "clear provocation" from Palestinian or Syrian forces, according to Israeli and Reagan administration sources. The pledge was made, they said, by Prime Minister Begin in a letter to President Reagan. [New York Times] Washington vetoed a resolution in the United Nations Security Council that called for punishing Israel for annexing the Golan Heights. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 845.89 (-1.52, -0.18%)
S&P Composite: 115.27 (-0.70, -0.60%)
Arms Index: 1.09

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	540	15.17
Declines	933	28.46
Unchanged	414	5.23
Total Volume		48.86

* 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 19, 1982	847.41	115.97	45.06
January 18, 1982	855.12	117.22	44.91
January 15, 1982	847.60	116.33	43.31
January 14, 1982	842.28	115.54	42.94
January 13, 1982	838.95	114.88	49.13
January 12, 1982	847.70	116.30	49.80
January 11, 1982	850.46	116.78	51.90
January 8, 1982	866.53	119.55	42.04
January 7, 1982	861.78	118.93	43.42
January 6, 1982	861.02	119.18	51.50