News stories from Tuesday December 8, 1981

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

President Reagan began budget talks and the process of deciding what steps -- all politically distasteful -- he should take to reduce the deficit for the next fiscal year from its newly projected record total of $152 billion. Amid discord on what course to follow, the White House said that "little can be done" now to reduce the projected record deficit of $109 billion in the current fiscal year. [New York Times] A costly farm bill was approved by a House-Senate conference after more than a month of haggling. The compromise, which would cost taxpayers at least $11 billion over four years, marked a qualified victory for President Reagan in his effort to slow non-military spending. [New York Times] Thirteen coal miners were killed as an explosion collapsed a mine shaft in the Tennessee mountains, the authorities reported. It was the third mine accident in the Appalachian coalfields in the last five days. [New York Times] Student religious groups were upheld by the Supreme Court. Voting 8 to 1, the Justices ruled that a public university that permitted student groups to meet on campus for secular activities must also allow students to meet for worship and religious study. [New York Times] Many ex-Green Berets sell their skills to unfriendly governments and repessive regimes, according to federal law enforcement officials and former Green Berets. They said that the specially trained men were often recruited by fellow veterans of the Army Special Forces who contended, apparently falsely, that the missions had been sanctioned by the C.I.A. [New York Times] Used car dealers would benefit from an action taken in a House subcommittee. In the first use of a new congressional authority, the panel voted 3 to 2 to veto a new Federal Trade Commission rule that would require the dealers to inform customers about known mechanical defects and the availability of a warranty. [New York Times] A shift on conversion to Judaism has been approved by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, an organization of 735 Reform synagogues. The program calls for vigorous efforts to invite non-Jewish partners in a mixed marriage and those who express no religious preference to convert to the Jewish religion. [New York Times] Three airliners seized by gunmen over Venezuela on Monday landed in Cuba with more than 100 hostages aboard after making refueling stops in several Latin American countries. Under a 1973 accord with Venezuela, Cuba is obliged to return the three Venezuelan planes and all those aboard. [New York Times] An American official's view on Ireland aroused controversy in Ulster and London. In an interview telecast by Dublin, Deputy Secretary of State William Clark asserted that the American people backed a reunification of Ireland. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, pressed for an explanation, reminded Washington that the future of Northern Ireland was an exclusively British concern. [New York Times] Efforts to break a U.N. deadlock improved as Salim A. Salim of Tanzania withdrew his name from further Security Council voting for a new Secretary General. Mr. Salim, who was opposed by the United States in 16 ballots, followed the lead of Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, who withdrew last week after being vetoed 16 times by China. [New York Times] Greece's new policy toward NATO was outlined at a ministerial conference of the Atlantic alliance in Brussels. Athens said that it was partly suspending a return to the NATO military command and that it had begun withdrawing from some commitments. An American official, expressing concern, said that the position would probably compromise all Greek involvement in NATO's integrated military structure. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 881.75 (-5.24, -0.59%)
S&P Composite: 124.82 (-0.37, -0.30%)
Arms Index: 0.90

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	471	12.78
Declines	1,039	25.39
Unchanged	445	6.97
Total Volume		45.14

* 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*
December 7, 1981	886.99	125.19	45.72
December 4, 1981	892.69	126.26	55.04
December 3, 1981	883.85	125.12	43.77
December 2, 1981	882.61	124.69	44.50
December 1, 1981	890.22	126.10	53.99
November 30, 1981	888.98	126.35	47.57
November 27, 1981	885.94	125.09	32.77
November 25, 1981	878.14	124.05	58.57
November 24, 1981	870.24	123.51	53.37
November 23, 1981	851.79	121.60	45.27