News stories from Wednesday April 9, 1980

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

American hostages were threatened by their Islamic militant captors, who said they would "destroy all the hostages immediately" if the United States began even "the smallest military action against Iran." The threat renewed one made soon after the American Embassy in Teheran was seized on Nov. 4.Armed Iranian exile groups in Iraq have been detected by United States intelligence, according to Washington officials. They said that Iraq had permitted the exiles to form military groups aimed at overthrowing the revolutionary government in Iran. [New York Times] Some Iranians may be expelled from the United States before their visas expire, under a plan that federal immigration officials said they were seriously considering. The proposed restrictions would affect businessmen and tourists more immediately than about 57,000 Iranian students, who are protected by law as long as they keep their student status. [New York Times] Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon. More than 200 soldiers, along with tanks and armored personnel carriers, advanced about fives miles across the border, where they appeared to be digging in for an extended stay, according to a United Nations spokesman. There were no reports of fighting and the Israeli Army said that its troops were "carrying out patrols in south Lebanon as a precaution against possible terrorist activity." [New York Times] The problem of acid rain and what to do about it is generating conflict between two regions of the country. The struggle pits those states, largely in the Northeast, that say they are suffering from the effects of acid rain against states, largely in the Middle West, that burn large quantities of "dirty coal" in power plants. [New York Times] A census ruse was acknowledged by the F.B.I., which said that one of its agents misrepresented himself as a census canvasser in 1972 while investigating New Left political activities in Vermont. The agent, the bureau said, was trying to identify the driver of a car and telephoned the owner's house under the pretext of making a "spot check for the 1970 census." [New York Times] A Soviet spacecraft was launched toward the orbiting Salyut space station with two astronauts aboard, one of whom spent a record 175 days in space last year. Moscow's space program is believed to be aimed at the eventual establishment of a permanently manned station orbiting the earth. [New York Times] Violence erupted in Havana as a man in a stolen taxi crashed through a police barricade in an effort to gain refuge in the Peruvian Embassy compound, drawing a burst of gunfire that wounded a 7-year-old child and two adults in the compound. Thousands of Cubans have thronged the compound in hopes of leaving the country. [New York Times] Scattered violence, presumed sabotage and heavy traffic tie-ups on rain-slicked streets marked the ninth day of the New York City transit strike. The police reported that more than 20 private buses had been damaged by vandals in six incidents and that presumed strike sympathizers had sought to slow or block traffic on several arteries. Class attendance was poor as New York City's public schools reopened after a spring vacation. Only 42.4 percent of high school students went to classes and attendance in some schools fell to 7 percent. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 785.92 (+10.92, +1.41%)
S&P Composite: 103.11 (+1.91, +1.89%)
Arms Index: 0.65

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,159	24.33
Declines	358	4.89
Unchanged	357	3.80
Total Volume		33.02

* 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*
April 8, 1980	775.00	101.20	31.69
April 7, 1980	768.34	100.19	29.13
April 3, 1980	784.13	102.15	27.96
April 2, 1980	787.80	102.68	35.20
April 1, 1980	784.47	102.18	32.03
March 31, 1980	785.75	102.09	35.85
March 28, 1980	777.65	100.68	46.71
March 27, 1980	759.98	98.22	63.77
March 26, 1980	762.12	98.68	37.35
March 25, 1980	767.83	99.19	43.79