News stories from Friday May 14, 1982

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

An Abscam conviction was upset by a federal district judge in Washington, who said that the government had used "outrageous" tactics to induce former Representative Richard Kelly of Florida to accept a $25,000 bribe. Judge William Bryant granted Mr. Kelly's request for a judgment of acquittal, saying that the government, in effect, was "testing the virtue" of Mr. Kelly when there was no reason to question his virtue, and that it had exceeded the outer limits of "fundamental fairness." [New York Times] No abrupt drop in milk price supports was promised by President Reagan at a meeting of several hundred dairy farmers on a farm in Pennsylvania. The President pledged not to "pull the rug out all at once." The farmers were worried about about a proposal announced last week by Agriculture Secretary John Block to reduce price supports next Jan. 1 and have the administration rather than Congress set their levels. [New York Times] A slight rise in producer prices in April continued the trend of a significant slowdown in price increases, the Labor Department repairted. The increase of one-tenth of 1 percent followed a decline of one-tenth of 1 percent in the preceding two months. Over the last 12 months, the index, which approximates the measure of inflation consumers will face in the future, rose only 3.1 percent, the lowest 12-month increase since 1978. [New York Times] The "pyschological stress" on people living near Three Mile Island must be considered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before it approves the restarting of the nuclear plant's undamaged reactor, a federal appeals court ruled. The 2-to-1 ruling will require the commission to consider for the first time such effects on people before permitting a nuclear plant to operate. The court backed down slightly from its interim ruling in January that would have also required the commission to consider the economic effects on the community. [New York Times] John W. Hinckley was "driven" by a severe mental illness called "process schizophrenia" when he shot President Reagan and three other men, a defense psychiatrist testified. The psychiatrist, Dr. William Carpenter, testified that Mr. Hinckley had met each of the medical crtieria necessary for a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. [New York Times] A $177.9 billion military bill for 1983 that includes appropriations for chemical weapons for the first time in 13 years was passed by the Senate after 20 hours of debate. The bill passed by a vote of 84 to 8 after its provisions on chemical weapons were amended to prohibit any testing of the chemicals on humans. [New York Times] Moscow disputed Britain on the combat zones near the Falkland Islands, calling them unlawful. In a formal statement read by a Foreign Ministry official to the British Ambassador in Moscow, the Soviet Union charged that Britain had arbitrarily closed vast expanses of the high seas to ships and aircraft of other countries in disregard of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas. It also rejected what it described as warnings by Britain to the Soviet Union and denied any involvement in the conflict between Britain and Argentina. [New York Times] The U.N. talks on the Falklands were abruptly halted when Sir Anthony Parsons, the British delegate, announced that he was returning to London for further talks with the government. Diplomatic sources at the United Nations said the bargaining had bogged down over a British attempt to revive part of its control over the islands. Argentina has resisted this effort, insisting that London should stick to a plan that would place the islands under United Nations control until the question of sovereignty was settled. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 857.78 (-1.33, -0.15%)
S&P Composite: 118.01 (-0.21, -0.18%)
Arms Index: 0.87

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	673	22.00
Declines	718	20.52
Unchanged	483	7.38
Total Volume		49.90

* 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*
May 13, 1982	859.11	118.22	58.22
May 12, 1982	865.77	119.17	59.21
May 11, 1982	865.87	119.42	54.67
May 10, 1982	860.92	118.38	46.30
May 7, 1982	869.20	119.47	67.18
May 6, 1982	863.20	118.68	67.54
May 5, 1982	854.45	117.67	58.86
May 4, 1982	854.45	117.46	58.72
May 3, 1982	849.03	116.81	46.48
April 30, 1982	848.35	116.44	48.03