News stories from Thursday October 2, 1980

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

Iraq said it had achieved the main aims of its military offensive in Iran and would now concentrate on holding the positions, but Iran warned its people that the Iraqi forces were poised for a new assault. Diplomats in Baghdad were also said to be convinced that a new Iraqi push was near and that Baghdad had begun to envisage a protracted war.Washington backed a cease-fire plan advanced by Iraq. Secretary of State Muskie appeared to welcome the conditional call for a four-day truce starting Sunday as a possible first step toward a negotiated settlement. [New York Times] The success of Iran's air force was unexpected. Before the fighting, many specialists said that the air force had been crippled, but its jets have apparently dealt heavy blows to Iraqi oil facilities. Markedly higher Saudi oil production is set to fill in part the supply shortage caused by the Iran-Iraq war, according to authoritative reports. The decision, officially denied by the Saudi press agency, was widely regarded as an attempt by the world's leading exporter to avert the possibility of a new price-raising scramble for oil and to reassert the country's dominant role in the oil exporting cartel. [New York Times] The President used poor judgment in the way he handled Billy Carter's ties with Libya, according to the unanimous conclusion of a Senate inquiry, which made the same criticism of three other top officials of the administration. In a voluminous report, the panel said that its nine-week investigation had found no evidence that the President's brother had influenced government policies and cited no examples of illegal or clearly unethical action by government officials. [New York Times] The House expelled a member for the first time since the Civil War. By a vote of 376 to 30, the chamber ousted Representative Michael Myers one month after the Democrat from Pennsylvania was convicted of bribery in the Abscam investigation. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan holds a modest edge over President Carter across the country and is narrowly ahead in most of the crucial states, according to both campaigns. But they expect the President to make a late surge because of the power of incumbency and the tendency of undecided Democrats to return eventually to the party. [New York Times] John Anderson's campaign was buoyed as the Federal Election Commission kept alive his hopes of obtaining millions of dollars of bank loans to finance his independent presidential campaign. In an advisory opinion, the commission said that such loans would not necessarily be illegal because of his plans to repay them with federal funds available only if he won at least 5 percent of the popular vote. [New York Times] The President's judicial appointments include record numbers of women, blacks and Hispanic Americans. Mr. Carter is citing this record in efforts to win support this year from liberals, women and minority groups. Specialists describe his appointees as a mix in terms of accomplishment and philosophical orientation, and critics say that he has not lived up to his pledge to adhere strictly to merit. [New York Times] Overstating losses from the census was attributed to mayors and other officials by some political scientists who have begun to analyze the complex formulas for federal grants. They said their research had indicated a gross exaggeration by the officials of the amount of aid that the big cities would lose because of the 1980 count. [New York Times] A possible new flood in California prompted a precautionary evacuation of a rural area near Stockton. Officials found an "ominous" new crack in a railroad embankment that is holding back floodwaters. [New York Times] A new Canadian Constitution was pressed by the federal government in the face of strong opposition by many provinces. Parliament was called into session next Monday by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to begin consideration of a new fundamental charter and bill of rights, and a stormy debate was in prospect. [New York Times] Britain's Labor Party veered left at an acriminous conference. The party approved for the second time in two decades a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and decided to broaden fundamentally the way it chooses its leader. [New York Times] A gold rush is on in Brazil's Amazon and more than $50 million worth of nuggets has been flown out of the jungle. The bonanza has brought overnight fortunes to some of the country's most unfortunate, and the government, acting under a law that cedes all mineral rights to the state, has moved swiftly to establish control over the 25,000 prospectors in the remote region. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 942.24 (+2.82, +0.30%)
S&P Composite: 128.09 (+0.96, +0.76%)
Arms Index: 0.70

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	955	29.29
Declines	581	12.41
Unchanged	360	4.46
Total Volume		46.16

* 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 1, 1980	939.42	127.13	48.71
September 30, 1980	932.42	125.46	40.29
September 29, 1980	921.93	123.54	46.40
September 26, 1980	940.10	126.35	49.43
September 25, 1980	955.97	128.72	49.51
September 24, 1980	964.76	130.37	56.86
September 23, 1980	962.03	129.43	64.39
September 22, 1980	974.57	130.40	53.14
September 19, 1980	963.74	129.25	53.74
September 18, 1980	956.48	128.40	63.39