News stories from Wednesday January 14, 1981

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

The way for a U.S.-Iranian accord to free the 52 American hostages was apparently opened by enabling legislation approved by Iran's Parliament after more than four hours of sometimes raucous debate and impassioned appeals by the chief Iranian negotiator. The bill, which seems to be the key to resolving the 14-month dispute, authorizes the arbitration of claims against Iranian assets.Washington was warily optimistic about the Iranian Parliament's approval of the arbitration of claims in the hostage dispute. United States officials called the vote "apparently a step in the right direction," but noted that a final agreement had not been reached. It was anticipated that the next 48 hours would be crucial in determining whether the 52 Americans will be freed before the Carter administration leaves office on Tuesday. [New York Times] President Carter exhorted Americans to continue the struggle to prevent nuclear war, conserve the environment and enhance human rights. In a 15-minute farewell speech televised from the Oval Office, he stressed themes that were central to his presidency and also cautioned against dangers posed by "single-issue groups and special-interest organizations." [New York Times] Chrysler won conditional approval from the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board for $400 million in government loan guarantees based on a revised survival plan. The complex plan, which the corporation's chairman said could bring up to $2 billion in relief to the ailing auto maker, calls for major financial concessions from the United Automobile Workers, the corporation's creditors and its suppliers. [New York Times] A decontrol of domestic crude oil prices will be accelerated under an executive order that Ronald Reagan will issue soon after his inauguration as President, his chief domestic adviser said. Congressional specialists estimate that the acceleration would net the government about $2 billion in additional revenue this year from the new "windfall" profits tax, but would have little impact on consumer costs. [New York Times] Four White House posts were filled, and Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, flew from Los Angeles to Washington to prepare for his presidential inauguration Tuesday. The latest appointees are Richard Darman and Francis Hodsoll, who were aides in President Ford's administration; Richard Williamson, an aide to Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada, and Michael Evans, who will be Mr. Reagan's photographer. [New York Times] The approval of Alexander Haig as Secretary of State by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was assured as he completed more than 30 hours of confirmation hearings. Tuesday's angry exchanges over Watergate were replaced by courtesies. [New York Times] Key deregulation of radio stations was approved by a 6-to-1 vote of the Federal Communications Commission. Among other actions, it terminated the rules requiring specific maximum time limits on commercials and minimum percentage requirements for news and public affairs programming. [New York Times] Florida growers suffered more losses after another night of freezing temperatures. The weather moderated slightly in parts of the nation's Northeast, but the mercury remained far below zero in many regions, and the National Weather Service said that abnormal cold was likely to linger for at least another month. [New York Times] A "drought emergency" will be set in New York City next week, Mayor Koch said. At first, officials said, they will rely on a mixture of mandatory and voluntary measures to conserve water. The mandatory steps, they said, are likely to involve prohibitions against street flushing, on the use of hydrants for any purpose other than firefighting and on car washing except in establishments that recycle water. [New York Times] A new attempt to arrange a cease-fire in the Iraqi-Iranian war was begun by a special United Nations envoy, former Prime Minister Olof Palme of Sweden. The talks opened in Baghdad as Western diplomats in Lebanon said that Iranian troops caused heavy Iraqi casualties last week. [New York Times] A two-hour strike in the Polish town of Rzeszow reportedly idled a number of industries in the southeastern city. As the two-hour "warning" stoppage was taking place, the Warsaw chapter of the independent labor union raised a possibility of a brief transit strike Thursday to protest government "intimidation" of workers who stayed off the job last Saturday. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 966.47 (+1.37, +0.14%)
S&P Composite: 133.47 (+0.18, +0.14%)
Arms Index: 0.88

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	914	23.37
Declines	612	13.81
Unchanged	396	4.21
Total Volume		41.39

* 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*
January 13, 1981	965.10	133.29	40.89
January 12, 1981	968.77	133.52	48.75
January 9, 1981	968.69	133.48	50.18
January 8, 1981	965.70	133.06	55.35
January 7, 1981	980.89	135.08	92.88
January 6, 1981	1004.69	138.12	67.40
January 5, 1981	992.66	137.97	58.71
January 2, 1981	972.78	136.34	28.86
December 31, 1980	963.99	135.76	41.21
December 30, 1980	962.03	135.33	39.75