News stories from Friday February 19, 1982

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

A Supreme Court decision might be sought by the administration on whether racially discriminatory private schools are entitled to tax exemptions, a White House official said. The announcement that a court decision was under consideration followed a new federal appeals court order temporarily barring the administration from granting exemptions to such schools. Several hundred schools could be affected. [New York Times] A surge in accidental deaths in mines was described as "unacceptable" by the Reagan administration's chief mine safety enforcer. However, in congressional testimony, Ford B. Ford, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mines, Health and Safety, defended his agency and denied charges that the administration's budget and payroll restrictions on the mine safety enforcement staff were responsible for the 155 miners' deaths in 1981, the highest number since 1975. [New York Times] Tripling of the jail population in Williamsburg County, S.C., is an indication that hard times have returned, according to county administrator Alex Chatman. "People get themselves arrested on some minor violation so they can get a meal or two," he said, in explaining why the number of inmates has tripled even though there has been no increase in crime. Except for better years in the last decade, Williamsburg County has traditionally been poverty stricken. [New York Times] Repeal of the leasing provision of the business depreciation tax cut -- one of the controversial elements of last last year's tax reductions -- is sought by Senator Bob Dole, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. His demand for repeal or alteration of the leasing provision effectively closed down the market for the sale of unused business depreciation tax credits. Mr. Dole said the changes or repeal would be effective Feb. 20. "Corporations entering into leasing deals after today do so at their own risk." he said. [New York Times] The Pope indicated disagreement with President Reagan over the American sanctions against Poland following the martial-law crackdown there. He also was ambiguous in his reponses when he was asked whether he planned to visit Poland in August. [New York Times] Saudi Arabia has cut its oil output by 3 to 3.5 million barrels daily since November beause of the worldwide oversupply. The Saudis, who are the world's largest oil exporters, have let daily production slide to between 7 million and 7.5 million barrels from a previous level about 500,000 barrels higher. The total output is the lowest in three years. In addition, Standard Oil Company (Ohio) cut the price of oil produced on the Alaskan North Slope, and Exxon confirmed that it reduced the price of heating oil, kerosene and diesel fuel. [New York Times] Arming American military advisers in El Salavador with rifles instead of pistols for personal protection has been proposed by the United States Ambassador, Deane Hinton, who has sought permission from the Reagan administration, State and Defense Department officials said. A military trainer in El Salvador who had armed himself with an M-16 rifle, the Army's basic infantry weapon, was recently ordered by Mr. Hinton to leave the country for violating a regulation restricting trainers to sidearms. [New York Times] Further military aid to El Salvador was unanimously opposed by a congressional delegation that spent three days there on a fact-finding mission. The delegation concluded its mission with a news conference and announced that it opposed further aid primarily because of human rights abuses by the Salvadoran armed forces. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 824.30 (-4.66, -0.56%)
S&P Composite: 113.22 (-0.60, -0.53%)
Arms Index: 1.03

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	574	17.66
Declines	859	27.17
Unchanged	441	6.51
Total Volume		51.34

* 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*
February 18, 1982	828.96	113.82	60.80
February 17, 1982	827.63	113.69	47.65
February 16, 1982	831.34	114.06	48.88
February 12, 1982	833.81	114.38	37.08
February 11, 1982	834.67	114.43	46.62
February 10, 1982	836.66	114.66	46.60
February 9, 1982	830.57	113.68	54.42
February 8, 1982	833.43	114.63	48.50
February 5, 1982	851.03	117.26	53.34
February 4, 1982	847.03	116.42	53.30