News stories from Friday August 7, 1981

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

More military personnel were ordered to man the control stations at the country's major airports. Meanwhile, the controllers' union appealed to other labor organizations in the United States and abroad to support their strike against the government. Union members said they wanted to resume contract negotiations, but Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis said, "none of the those people will be permitted to come back," and in regard to renewed talks, he said "nothing is in the works." [New York Times] European controllers showed support for the striking Americans through scattered job actions that had virtually no effect on flights between Europe and the United States. Job action by controllers in Finland, Norway, Italy and France ranged from rule-book slowdowns to outright refusals to guide American-bound flights. Other protests were being planned in Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and West Germany. [New York Times] The unemployment rate declined to 7 percent in July from 7.3 percent in June, its lowest level since April 1980, the Labor Department reported. The decline was greater than economists had expected and it raised questions about how troubled the economy really is. [New York Times] A halt in oil drilling leases off the California coast until at least 1983 has been ordered by Secretary of the Interior James Watt. Mr. Watt said he had decided against recommending to President Reagan that four large ocean areas off northern California be offered for leasing because of uncertainties arising from a decision in July by a federal district judge in Los Angeles that blocked the sale of oil drill-ing leases in 31 tracts south of that area. The leases are opposed by Californians of both parties, who have been putting pressure on President Reagan to withdraw them. [New York Times] President Reagan withdrew support of William McCann, a New Jersey insurance executive and Reagan campaigner, as Ambassador to Ireland, officials said. Mr. McCann's company had been linked to Louis Ostrer, a convicted stock swindler. Mr. Ostrer was sentenced in December to 20 years in jail for failing to pay taxes on $6.8 million in income. The President is now expected to nominate Peter Murphy, president of the Murphy lumber company in Eugene, Ore., who has been chairman of his state's Republican Party. [New York Times] A takeover of a diplomatic office maintained by Iran in Washington was attempted by supporters of the deposed President of Iran, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. It ended with the surrender of the demonstrators and the shooting of one of them, apparently by one of the hostages in the office of the Iranian Interests Section. [New York Times] Solidarity was harshly attacked by the Polish government, which accused the trade union of "aggressive and arrogant behavior" and of undermining talks aimed at ending the crisis over food shortages. One of the government's strongest criticisms of the union was made public while several hundred workers in the southern industrial and mining region of Silesia struck for four hours over food shortages and the government's handling of the country's economic troubles. It appeared that talks between the union's leaders and the government might be halted, at least temporarily. [New York Times] Moscow renewed its harsh attacks on the independent union in Poland. The official newpapers have offered versions of events in Poland that suggested that Soviet leaders' forebearance is once again beihg strained. Western diplomats who have been observing the Kremlin's reaction to the Polish crisis doubt that any overt intervention is planned, despite the largest maneuvers ever held by the Soviet Navy off Poland's Baltic coast. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 942.54 (-10.37, -1.09%)
S&P Composite: 131.75 (-0.89, -0.67%)
Arms Index: 1.02

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	552	12.57
Declines	857	19.99
Unchanged	449	5.81
Total Volume		38.37

* 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*
August 6, 1981	952.91	132.64	52.07
August 5, 1981	953.58	132.67	54.27
August 4, 1981	945.97	131.18	39.47
August 3, 1981	946.25	130.48	39.65
July 31, 1981	952.34	130.92	43.47
July 30, 1981	945.11	130.01	41.55
July 29, 1981	937.40	129.16	37.61
July 28, 1981	939.40	129.14	38.15
July 27, 1981	945.87	129.90	39.61
July 24, 1981	936.74	128.46	38.88