News stories from Monday January 5, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The three American hostages in the Iranian Foreign Ministry successfully resisted attempts to move them 11 days before they were transferred on Saturday to a secret place in Teheran to join some of the 49 other captives, the State Department said. [New York Times]
- Lower interest rates were signaled as the Federal Reserve System announced a sharp decline in the nation's money supply and the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company lowered its prime rending rate to 20 percent from a record 21½ percent. Reacting strongly, the Dow Jones industrial average soared 19.88 points, to 992.66, and bond prices surged. [New York Times]
- The 97th Congress convened with the House and Senate controlled by different parties for the first time since 1932. Pledges of bipartisan cooperation in this more conservative Congress evaporated quickly into partisan verbal skirmishes. [New York Times]
- Republican support for Democrats was signaled in efforts to obtain executive branch files for the forthcoming Senate hearings on the nomination of Alexander Haig to be Secretary of State. Senator Charles Percy, the new chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that committee Republicans also wanted the executive branch to turn over tapes and files involving Mr. Haig. [New York Times]
- A vow to revive American-Mexican ties was made by President-elect Ronald Reagan and President Jose Lopez Portillo. They greeted each other at the Bridge of Friendship linking Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, pledged to establish a "personal relationship" as the basis for easing differences and held a 70-minute meeting, which a Reagan aide termed "enormously successful." [New York Times]
- Savings in government travel costs could total $100 million a year, according to a study by the Office of Management and Budget, but officials say that the large cuts advocated by the Reagan administration are not attainable. Federal travel and transportation now cost $9 billion a year, but about two-thirds involves the shipment of goods and 80 percent is military-related. [New York Times]
- A "drought emergency" status was recorded for New York City's reservoir system in the headwaters of the Delaware River. As a result, Governor Byrne of New Jersey issued an urgent call for a strategy meeting in Trenton next week of the Governors of the four states on the Delaware River Basin Commission. [New York Times]
- The cleanup at Three Mile Island is at a virtual standstill because of a complex knot of technological, bureaucratic, environmental and emotional issues. Plans have been made to purify at least 600,000 gallons of highly radioactive water that flooded a sump and basement of the crippled nuclear power plant on March 28, 1979, but approval for the purification has not been received. [New York Times]
- American nuclear arms superiority over the Soviet Union is sought by the American Security Council, a political action group that is pressing for increased military spending. Early in the new Congress, a bipartisan coalition supported by the group will propose such a strategic commitment, and proponents expect support from a large majority of legislators. [New York Times]
- A state-U.S. court fight over schools continued in Alexandria, La. Threatened with arrest by a Lousiana court judge if they refused to comply, the authorities at an all-white high school re-enrolled three white students in defiance of an order by a federal judge that the three girls begin attending a racially mixed school as part of a regional desegregation plan. [New York Times]
- Rules about bribing a public official in undercover investigations were issued by the Justice Department. Under the new guidelines, the F.B.I. director could in some cases authorize undercover agents to offer a bribe "even though there is no reasonable indication" that an official had been engaging in a crime, but the directive prohibited entrapment. [New York Times]
- A major crime hunt in England ended as a 35-year-old truck driver was charged with murder and the police appeared to believe that they had caught the so-called Yorkshire Ripper. He is said to have mutilated and murdered 13 women in the last five years. [New York Times]
- Salvadoran troops pressed an attack against suspected leftist guerrilla bases 13 miles north of the capital. The military reported killing 27 guerrillas in fighting Sunday. [New York Times]
- Iran asserted that a counteroffensive had been begun against Iraq. The announcement was made by President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who is under fire from his clerical opponents for his handling of the war. The announcement was dismissed by American military analysts, who said they had no word of any offensive. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 992.66 (+19.88, +2.04%)
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* |
| January 2, 1981 | 972.78 | 136.34 | 28.86 |
| December 31, 1980 | 963.99 | 135.76 | 41.21 |
| December 30, 1980 | 962.03 | 135.33 | 39.75 |
| December 29, 1980 | 960.58 | 135.03 | 36.05 |
| December 26, 1980 | 966.38 | 136.57 | 16.13 |
| December 24, 1980 | 963.05 | 135.88 | 29.48 |
| December 23, 1980 | 958.28 | 135.00 | 55.25 |
| December 22, 1980 | 958.79 | 135.78 | 51.96 |
| December 19, 1980 | 937.20 | 133.70 | 50.67 |
| December 18, 1980 | 930.20 | 133.00 | 69.57 |