News stories from Friday March 13, 1981

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

College students would feel the pinch of a sharp cut in federal education grants proposed by the administration. The proposal, subject to a review by Congress, would defer the usual cost-of-living procedure of adjusting the "discretionary family income" which is used to determine the amount of the grants. Discretionary family income is the money a family has after basic living costs are taken care of. [New York Times] Northeast and Midwest senators and representatives of both parties said President Reagan's economic program was unfair to their regions. They expressed their views at a meeting of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition with David Stockman, Director of the Office of Management and Budget. [New York Times] Atlanta will get $1.5 million in federal money to help its investigation of the murders of 20 black children and the disappearance of two others since the summer of 1979. The grant was ordered by President Reagan, who said the Atlanta murders were "one of the most tragic situations" ever to confront an American community. He said that Vice President Bush would go to Atlanta tomorrow to meet with city officials and the special police panel in charge of the investigation. [New York Times] The Mayor of Providence agreed to surrender control over city spending in return for the City Council's approval of a 20 percent increase in property taxes to help the city avoid bankruptcy. Mayor Vincent Cianci will turn over control of the budget to a financial review board. The agreement made possible a $4.4 million bank loan needed to pay city salaries. [New York Times] More aid for El Salvador was decided on by the administration. Proposals to send 15 members of the Army's Special Forces and to provide an additional $60 million in economic assistance were discussed by members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and officials of the State and Defense Departments and the Central Intelligence Agency. [New York Times] Important new evidence in the killings of three American nuns and a lay worker in El Salvador last December was disclosed by President Jose Napoleon Duarte. He said that Salvadoran investigators had found the site of the murders and had obtained fingerprints, several bullets and a fragment of a tooth. Official sources said that three bullets have been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington for analysis, as have fingerprints. [New York Times] The Law of the Sea Conference being conducted by the United Nations has a new president. He is Tommy Koh of Singapore, a lawyer who had a major role in drafting a complex code governing navigation and access to the oceans' resources. Mr. Koh succeeds the late Shirley Arrierasinghe of Sri Lanka, who, until his death last December, had been president since the conference began more than seven years go. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 985.77 (-4.05, -0.41%)
S&P Composite: 133.11 (-0.08, -0.06%)
Arms Index: 1.03

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	978	38.81
Declines	600	24.52
Unchanged	355	4.96
Total Volume		68.29

* 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 12, 1981	989.82	133.19	54.63
March 11, 1981	967.67	129.95	47.39
March 10, 1981	972.66	130.46	56.61
March 9, 1981	976.42	131.12	46.17
March 6, 1981	964.62	129.85	43.93
March 5, 1981	964.62	129.93	45.37
March 4, 1981	971.44	130.86	47.25
March 3, 1981	966.02	130.56	48.73
March 2, 1981	977.99	132.01	47.71
February 27, 1981	974.58	131.27	53.20