News stories from Tuesday July 28, 1981

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

A huge budget conference ended as it completed all major action on more than $37 billion in spending reductions and ratified changes in hundreds of federal programs. Taking part were 72 Senators and 183 Representatives. Attention focused on hundreds of differences between the House and Senate bills, but they shared a philosophy of fiscal restraint and agreed on most issues. [New York Times] A major fight over tax-relief bills to be considered tomorrow in the House of Representatives was pressed by the Reagan administration and the chamber's Democratic leadership. Partisans on both sides said that the contest for votes for the administration-backed measure and the Democratic alternative was a toss-up. [New York Times] Stricter defense contracts are planned by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. He said that he would impose penalties on contractors for excessive costs and delays as part of the administration's effort to stay within 7 percent annual growth in military spending. He also said that he intended to close an unspecified number of military bases. [New York Times] A review of C.I.A contracts to help deter the transfer of technology and information by former C.I.A. agents to such countries as Libya and the Soviet Union would be carried out under an order issued by William J. Casey, the Director of Central Intelligence. Two former agents recently went to Libya to train terrorists and tranport explosives there illegally. [New York Times] Mr. Casey is to testify Thursday in a closed session of the Senate Intelligence Committee about previous financial dealings and his managment of the C.I.A. Senator Barry Goldwater, chairman of the panel, said that its staff would conduct "further investigations" of Mr. Casey and that the inquiry could last two more weeks. [New York Times] An easing of taxpayer privacy laws has been approved by the Senate. The measure would encourage the Internal Revenue Service to share information with other agencies investigating possible non-tax crimes. [New York Times] A sailor's death prompted a charge of dereliction of duty against the commander of the aircraft carrier Ranger, the Navy announced. It also said that the death of an airman recruit while he was being held in correctional custody aboard the ship would result in disciplinary action for the commander and 27 others. [New York Times] Many new arrivals in Dallas are having difficulty finding work and are living a day-to-day existence in their cars or trucks or in cheap hotels. Many of the struggling immigrants go to temporary employment offices for daily jobs that bring them a day's pay that they need for survival. [New York Times] London was exuberantly festive and bonfires blazed on 101 hilltops across Britain in a joyous prelude to the wedding tomorrow of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Skyrockets spangled the capital's sky with multicolored lights in a spectacular display modeled on the pyrotechnics staged in 1749 to mark the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. [New York Times] The resignation of an ambassador created a stir. The departure of Robert Neumann as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia was announced amid reports that his resignation had been forced after a dispute with Secretary of State Alexander Haig. Friends and critics of the foreign policy analyst said he had expressed criticism of statements made by Mr. Haig about Middle East policy and had said that Washington should "crack down" on Israel for its recent military actions. [New York Times] Emergency feed grain aid to Poland will be supplied by the United States. Warsaw was granted a $50 million loan to buy 350,000 metric tons of corn to feed livestock. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 939.40 (-6.47, -0.68%)
S&P Composite: 129.14 (-0.76, -0.59%)
Arms Index: 1.11

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	544	11.54
Declines	894	20.98
Unchanged	436	5.64
Total Volume		38.16

* 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*
July 27, 1981	945.87	129.90	39.61
July 24, 1981	936.74	128.46	38.88
July 23, 1981	928.56	127.40	41.88
July 22, 1981	924.66	127.13	47.49
July 21, 1981	934.46	128.34	47.26
July 20, 1981	940.54	128.72	40.24
July 17, 1981	959.90	130.76	42.78
July 16, 1981	955.48	130.34	39.01
July 15, 1981	954.15	130.23	48.95
July 14, 1981	948.25	129.65	45.23