News stories from Friday May 8, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Cost-of-living raises for Social Security recipients and retired federal employees would be cut by $7.9 billion next year under a recommendation passed by the Senate, 49 to 42. The vote followed an unsuccessful move by Senator Donald Riegle, Democrat of Michigan, to reverse a Senate Budget Committee recommendation that the increases no longer be based solely on the Consumer Price Index, which the Congressional Budget Office believes was overly generous in calculating the rate of inflation. The Senate instead supported the committee's recommendation that the increases be based on either the Consumer Price Index, or the national average increase in wages, whichever was lower. [New York Times]
- The rise in producer prices moderated in April because of smaller increases for food, gasoline and heating oil, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The index, which measures price changes for goods sold to retailers, rose by eight-tenths of 1 percent last month, a much smaller increase than March's 1.3 percent. [New York Times]
- The jobless rate was unchanged at 7.3 percent in April for the third consecutive month. According to the latest figures, about 500,000 Americans found jobs last month. The decline in the number of unemployed was slight, the Labor Department report said. [New York Times]
- President Reagan will not back down from his controversial tax cut proposals, but key Republicans in Congress suggested that he probably would have to compromise later. [New York Times]
- The resignation of James Watt as Secretary of the Interior was demanded by leaders of 150 American Indian nations. The National Tribal Governments Conference said in a letter to President Reagan that Secretary Watt was unwilling to meet with the group on Indian matters in the manner specified by law. The Secretary's stand was "completely intolerable," the letter said. [New York Times]
- The unexplained deaths of 21 patients, all of them elderly, at two hospitals near Los Angeles, is being investigated, and Los Angeles has now begun its own inquiry. At the center of the inquiry, which was begun after a report that 25 elderly patients had died in the intensive care unit of the Community Hospital of the Valleys in Perris, is a 43-year-old nurse. [New York Times]
- France's Socialist candidate for President took a slight lead over President Valery Giscard d'Estaing as Sunday's neck-and-neck election approached. Two polls taken this week showed Francois Mitterand ahead by three to four points but indicated that Mr. Giscard d'Estaing had gained slightly. A poll conducted for the President gave him a two-point lead. [New York Times]
- Syria rejected Israel's demand for the withdrawal of its antiaircraft missiles from Lebanon, despite Prime Minister Menachem Begin's repeated warnings that the missiles would be attacked militarily by Israeli forces if Syria does not remove them. The formal response from the Syrian Defense Ministry said the missiles "exist now, and will in the future, wherever Syrian troops are, when they need them." Meanwhile, Philip Habib, the American special envoy, began discussions in Beirut toward averting a Syrian-Israeli war. [New York Times]
- Prime Minister Begin was pessimistic about Syria's removal of the missiles in Lebanon, and American and Israeli officials believed he might soon order air strikes on the missile positions. The officials said that Mr. Begin had said in a letter to President Reagan that he was willing to allow additional time for American diplomacy to resolve the issue, but the situation was similar to that 1967, when diplomatic efforts failed. [New York Times]
- Foreign states foment terrorism in Spain, Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo charged, but he did not name them in a televised address to the country following the assassination of seven military men and Civil Guards in less than a week. An official said the Prime Minister was referring to "the Soviet Union and its satellites." [New York Times]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 976.40 (-1.99, -0.20%)
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* |
| May 7, 1981 | 978.39 | 131.67 | 42.59 |
| May 6, 1981 | 973.34 | 130.78 | 47.10 |
| May 5, 1981 | 972.44 | 130.32 | 48.99 |
| May 4, 1981 | 979.11 | 130.67 | 40.66 |
| May 1, 1981 | 995.59 | 132.72 | 48.35 |
| April 30, 1981 | 997.75 | 132.81 | 47.96 |
| April 29, 1981 | 1004.32 | 133.05 | 53.34 |
| April 28, 1981 | 1016.93 | 134.33 | 58.21 |
| April 27, 1981 | 1024.05 | 135.48 | 51.08 |
| April 24, 1981 | 1020.35 | 135.14 | 59.90 |