News stories from Tuesday February 10, 1981

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

Seven social programs will be spared from President Reagan's budget-cutting proposals for the fiscal year 1982, the White House announced. The major programs, which cost $210 billion a year and have 80 million beneficiaries, include Social Security payments to the elderly, Medicare, veterans' disability payments, the school meal program, Head Start and the Summer Youth Jobs Program. [New York Times] Plans to combat violent crime through legislation are being shaped by Justice Department officials. The proposals include changes in the bail law, the assumption of federal jurisdiction over some crimes, such as murder for hire, that are usually prosecuted by the state authorities and new programs to aid the victims of crime. [New York Times] Michael Reagan was accused of felony violations of California security laws. Court documents said that Mr. Reagan, the elder son of President Reagan, had been accused by a Los Angeles prosecutor's investigator of defrauding investors and of receiving a commission for the sale of securities when he was not, as required by law, registered as a securities salesman. [New York Times] At least three hostages kept journals, writing about their 444 days of captivity in Iran. Sgt. Rodney Sickmann, a Marine guard, emerged with a diary of about 200,000 words. John Graves, a public affairs officer, prepared a manuscript in English of at least 70,000 words and was able to carry out an outline, in French, which he hid in his clothes, according to his literary agent. [New York Times] A fire broke out in Las Vegas at the Hilton hotel, killing five people and injuring scores. The blaze was reportedly contained, but heavy smoke reached many in their rooms and many people were treated for smoke inhalation. Thousands of guests were safely evacuted from the packed hotel, however. [New York Times] Efforts to contain airliner fires were pressed by the National Transportation Safety Board. It urged the Federal Aviation Administration to consider requiring a better design for baggage and cargo areas. The board has been investigating the fire last summer aboard an airliner on the ground in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that took the lives of all 301 people aboard. [New York Times] Cynthia Dwyer was flying home to Amherst, N.Y., after being held for more than nine months in a Teheran jail on suspicion of espionage. She left Iran on an Iran Air flight that stopped in Dubai. Her husband said he had spoken with her by telephone for about five minutes during the stop and that "she seems wonderful." [New York Times] Farmers in Poland were rebuffed by the nation's Supreme Court, which rejected their request to establish an independent union. However, the court softened the ruling a bit by instructing the farmers to take their case before the Warsaw city administration, which could register their organization as an "association" with no collective bargaining rights. Meanwhile, negotiators resolved several key labor disputes. [New York Times] Washington's concern about Poland was expressed by Secretary of State Alexander Haig who said, through his spokesman, that the United States regarded Soviet military intervention as "neither imminent nor inevitable nor justifiable." The State Department seemed to rule out any emergency economic aid to Warsaw, but said five hours later that the matter was under review.Apprehension about events in Poland was evident among foreign diplomats in Moscow. Many of them said they believed that the Soviet leadership was losing patience with the Poles and some said they thought that the Kremlin wanted to see evidence soon of a tougher stance by Warsaw toward the independent trade union. [New York Times] A town in Italy is still in ruins two and a half months after it was destroyed by an earthquake. Bulldozers have hardly nibbled at the mountains of rubble, and town centers throughout the devastated southern region have been abandoned. Officials in the town of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi say the region is not getting enough aid. [New York Times] A bigger role for Europe in the Mideast was endorsed by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. In a speech to the European Parliament in Luxembourg, he urged Western European leaders to press ahead with plans for a peace initiative and said it should concentrate on persuading Israel and the Palestinians to recognize each other's right to nationhood and security. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 948.63 (+1.45, +0.15%)
S&P Composite: 129.24 (-0.03, -0.02%)
Arms Index: 0.89

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	656	16.23
Declines	819	18.13
Unchanged	406	6.46
Total Volume		40.82

* 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*
February 9, 1981	947.18	129.27	38.32
February 6, 1981	952.30	130.60	45.82
February 5, 1981	946.76	129.63	45.31
February 4, 1981	941.98	128.59	45.53
February 3, 1981	941.38	128.46	45.95
February 2, 1981	932.17	126.91	44.08
January 30, 1981	947.27	129.55	41.16
January 29, 1981	948.89	130.24	38.16
January 28, 1981	942.58	130.34	36.69
January 27, 1981	949.49	131.12	42.25