News stories from Tuesday May 19, 1981

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

The man accused of shooting the Pope had considered other targets, according to Italian police sources. The suspect, Mehmet Ali Agca, reportedly told Italian magistrates investigating the assassination attempt that he had considered killing the British monarch, Secretary General Kurt Waldheim of the United Nations and Simone Veil, the President of the European Parliament. Meanwhile, the Pope continued to improve and his temperature dropped to 98.6. [New York Times] The economy grew at a 8.4 percent rate in the first quarter, much more rapidly than had been anticipated. The Commerce Department said in its revision of the quarter's gross national product estimate that the economy had registered the strongest quarterly growth since the spring of 1978, a period of economic expansion. Its original G.N.P. estimate for the the first quarter -- a growth of 6.5 percent -- had been announced on April 20, before complete figures were available. [New York Times] The busing of 3,000 more Buffalo pupils was ordered by a federal judge, bringing to near completion a school desegregation plan worked out between the Buffalo Board of Education and two civil rights groups that had sued in 1972 to achieve integration. The school board was found guilty in 1976 of maintaining segregated schools and has been trying since to work out a solution with the plaintiffs that would avoid enforced busing. [New York Times] Election laws in Mobile, Ala., are at issue in the retrial that began this week of a suit contending that blacks have been unconstitutionally prevented from gaining election to public office. Under a ruling by the Supreme Court about a year ago, the plaintiffs must prove that there was deliberate discrimination behind the fact that no black has been elected to Mobile's city commission since it was established in 1868. [New York Times] A ban on industrial work at home was criticized and praised at a House hearing on a Reagan administration proposal to make such piecework legal. Union representatives employers and members of Congress attacked the proposal, saying that it would lead to the exploitation of the poor. [New York Times] The appointment of Arthur Burns as Ambassador to West Germany was announced by the White House. Mr. Burns is a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and a principal economic adviser to President Reagan. The announcement was made shortly before Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was to fly to Washington. Bonn felt that a replacement for former Ambassador Walter Stoessel had been delayed too long. During his visit Mr. Schmidt is expected to suggest that the administration move up its schedule for discussions with Moscow on medium-range missiles for Western Europe. [New York Times] Jacobo Timerman refused to testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the controversial nomination of Ernest Lefever as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Mr. Timerman, a former Buenos Aires newspaper editor, had been imprisoned and tortured in Argentina. His presence among the observers was welcomed by opponents of the nomination, who believe that Mr. Lefever has shown insufficient concern about human rights abuses in non-Marxist countries. Democrats predict that the committee will turn down the nomination. [New York Times] Five British soldiers were killed by a land mine placed on a roadside near Newry, Northern Ireland. The mine was apparently set off by Irish Republican Army guerrillas at a time when another hunger striker is expected to die in prison. The soldiers were killed instantly when their armored vehicle blew up. [New York Times] Syria's President and Philip Habib, President Reagan's envoy, had another discussion about the Syrian missiles in Lebanon, which Israel threatens to attack. Mr. Habib gave no details of the talks, saying only that he would continue his mediation efforts, and traveled to Israel for further talks with Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The Israeli cabinet reportedly will meet tomorrow to discuss Mr. Habib's proposals. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 980.01 (-5.76, -0.58%)
S&P Composite: 132.09 (-0.45, -0.34%)
Arms Index: 0.99

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	619	15.44
Declines	892	21.99
Unchanged	393	4.79
Total Volume		42.22

* 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*
May 18, 1981	985.77	132.54	42.51
May 15, 1981	985.95	132.17	45.46
May 14, 1981	973.07	131.28	42.75
May 13, 1981	967.76	130.55	42.59
May 12, 1981	970.82	130.72	40.34
May 11, 1981	963.44	129.71	37.63
May 8, 1981	976.40	131.66	41.85
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