News stories from Thursday March 26, 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 confirmed as the House, following the Senate, approved the President's plan to skip a scheduled April 1 increase in dairy price supports. The plan is expected to save the government $147 million and avert an increase of about 8 cents a gallon in the retail price of milk. [New York Times] A delay on consideration of abortion, school prayer and other controversial social issues until next year is planned in the Senate. Howard Baker, the majority leader, said that the 53-member Republican Caucus had agreed to his proposal to postpone such issues, which would likely prompt long floor debate, to help insure that President Reagan's economic program is approved this year. [New York Times] A drive on federal waste and fraud was stressed by President Reagan as he established the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency. Five of the 18 federal inspectors general whom he dismissed on his first day in office were reappointed to similar assignments, which involve rooting out waste and corruption. [New York Times] An official cited anti-business bias on issues involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. As a result, the official, who is the new administrator of the agency, ordered the destruction of more than 100,000 booklets on cotton dust and is holding up the distribution of films and slides produced by the agency on other health issues. [New York Times] Boston faces a threat of bankruptcy amid a political impasse over who will bear the burden of changes in the city government's free-spending ways. City officials have threatened to close the public schools for the semester as early as next week rather than let them overspend their budget again. [New York Times] Carol Burnett won a libel suit against The National Enquirer over a 1976 gossip item that depicted her as intoxicated in an encounter with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The Los Angeles jury that made the finding ordered the tabloid to pay the actress $1.6 million in punitive and general damages. Miss Burnett told reporters, "If they'd given me $1 plus car fare, I'd have been happy." [New York Times] Washington's concern over Poland was reflected in the Reagan administration's strongest statement about the worsening situation there. The White House said that any use of force by the Polish authorities against the independent labor movement or any "repressive action in Poland" by Soviet forces could gravely affect East-West relations. [New York Times] A general strike is set in Poland for Friday. The independent union said it would proceed with the four-hour warning stoppage after its crucial negotiations with the government were unexpectedly postponed. The strike would be the most massive one ever staged by the seven-month-old union, and the nation, faced with worsening food shortages and other hardships, was tense and apprehensive. [New York Times] Alexander Haig seemed nonchalant in his first public comments since Vice President Bush was placed in charge of the Reagan administration's crisis management team two days ago. Testifying at a Senate hearing, Mr. Haig said he wanted to put aside the issue, which has led to reports that he was considering resignation over the seeming affront to his standing. [New York Times] A new centrist party in Britain formally came into being, staking out a position between the Labor and Conservative parties and raising the possibility of a realignment in British politics. The emerging Social Democratic Party already has 14 Members of Parliament and wide public support. [New York Times] An alleged British spy case prompted Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to make an unusual address to Parliament. She confirmed that a former chief of counterintelligence had once been suspected of being a Soviet agent. But she said that two thorough inquiries had not uncovered any proof and that the investigators had concluded that the man was not guilty. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1005.76 (-9.46, -0.93%)
S&P Composite: 136.27 (-0.84, -0.61%)
Arms Index: 1.17

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	703	22.33
Declines	860	31.92
Unchanged	368	6.12
Total Volume		60.37

* 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 25, 1981	1015.22	137.11	56.34
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