News stories from Wednesday October 7, 1981

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

Egyptian leaders vowed to continue the policies of slain president Anwar Sadat in an effort to assure an orderly transition of power. In a nearly unanimous move, Parliament named Vice President Hosni Mubarak to succeed the assassinated president. For the past six years Mr. Mubarak had been a close associate of Mr. Sadat. The nomination is subject to a popular vote in an election in which Mr. Mubarak will be the only candidate. No official announcement was made but sources said the leader of the assassins was an army officer with ties to a fundalmentalist Moslem group involved in terroirism in the past. Meanwhile, Mr. Sadat's funeral was set for Saturday. [New York Times] The United States assured Egypt of continued strong support and promised to play an active role in the Egyptian-Israel negotiations for Palestinian autonomy. In the Reagan administration's first policy statement since the assassination of President Sadat, Secretary of State Alexander Haig also warned other countries against trying "to manipulate the tragic events of the last 24 hours." At the same time the White House announced that Mr. Haig would head the delegation to Mr. Sadat's funeral. Neither the President nor Vice President Bush will attend for security reasons. [New York Times] Egyptians mourned the death of President Sadat. But in contrast to the public hysteria which followed the passing of Gamal Abel Nasser, Mr. Sadat's predecessor, the streets of Cairo were unusually quiet and empty. Egypt has declared an offical 40-day mourning period for Mr. Sadat during which sporting events, public socials and religious gatherings outside mosques will be banned. [New York Times] Israel will keep the treaty with Egypt despite the assassination of President Sadat. Prime Minister Menachem Begin said Israel would keep to the peace agreement as long as Egypt in turn kept to the provisions of the accords. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir reaffirmed Israel's committment to return the last strip of the strategic Sinai Peninsula to Egypt next April. [New York Times] A House committee rejected sale of Awacs planes to Saudi Arabia by a vote of 28 to 8. But as Congress recessed for a Columbus Day break the prospects for the President's proposal to sell $8.5 billion in air defense equipment to Saudi Arabia were uncertain. Mr. Reagan met with 43 of the 53 Republican senators and pressed them for their support, calling the sale "essential to the Middle East peace process." [New York Times] Reagan budget revisions, in which three Republican Senate chairman will be involved, may lead to the first major rift between the White House and Republican congressional leaders. Senate Republicans had previously shown strong unity in supporting the President's budget and tax plans, but some now feel that Mr. Reagan's latest buget-cutting proposals are politically unfeasible. [New York Times] Andrew Young faces a run-off election for the mayoral race in Atlanta. The former United States representative who also served as chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations during the Carter administration, failed to win a majority among a field of seven candidates. Mr. Young, who took just over 40 percent of the vote, will face another Democratic candidate, state Representative Sidney Marcus, who received just under 39 percent of the vote. [New York Times] Jean Harris's trial was fair, Westchester County District, Carl Vergari, said in an 88-page legal brief responding to court papers filed by Mrs. Harris's lawyers. Mrs. Harris, who is serving a 15-year-to-life sentence in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for the murder in March of 1980 of Dr. Herman Tarnower, a well-known cardiologist and diet doctor, claimed, in part, that the publicity which surrounded her case kept her from recieving a fair trial. [New York Times] Commonwealth nations met in Melborne and issued a comunique which reflected prominently the views of its majority of "third world" members. At the same time, the document from the Commonwealth, 45 nations once under British rule, did reflect views of its Western or pro-Western members in diluted language. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 868.72 (+12.46, +1.46%)
S&P Composite: 121.31 (+1.92, +1.61%)
Arms Index: 0.71

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,157	37.80
Declines	361	8.38
Unchanged	373	3.85
Total Volume		50.03

* 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*
October 6, 1981	856.26	119.39	45.45
October 5, 1981	859.87	119.51	51.28
October 2, 1981	860.73	119.36	54.57
October 1, 1981	852.26	117.08	41.59
September 30, 1981	849.96	116.18	40.70
September 29, 1981	847.89	115.94	49.79
September 28, 1981	842.56	115.53	61.32
September 25, 1981	824.01	112.77	54.39
September 24, 1981	835.14	115.01	48.88
September 23, 1981	840.94	115.65	52.69