News stories from Friday October 2, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- MX missiles will be housed in silos being vacated by Titan missiles rather than shuttled among shelters in the Western deserts as had been proposed, President Reagan told newsmen, ending several days of speculation about the basing of the intercontinental nuclear missiles. Their deployment will be part of what the President called a comprehensive plan to revive the nation's strategic nuclear deterrent. He also revived plans for the long-range B-1 bomber, which had been canceled by the Carter administration and proposed the construction of 100 of them. "This is the strategic program America can afford," the President said. Defense Department officials said the program would cost $180.3 billion over the next six fiscal years, starting with the year that began Wednesday. [New York Times]
- The MX decision won praise in Congress, but President Reagan's pro-posal to build 100 B-1 bombers appears to face serious political problems. One critic of the MX decision, Senator John Tower, the Texas Republican who heads the Armed Services Committee, said he was "gravely disappointed" by the scaled-down proposal. [New York Times]
- The unemployment rate rose to 7.5 percent of the total work force in September, marking the second successive increase after three months of decline last summer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced. September's rate was three-tenths of a percentage point higher than the level in August. Dr. Janet Norwood, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, told the congressional Joint Economic Committee that layoffs had been most noticeable in industries highly sensitive to high interest rates, saying the figures indicated that "at best the economy is very flat." [New York Times]
- Richard Nixon was accused of filing in court a "false and misleading" description of a tape-recorded conversation he had on May 5, 1971 with H. R. Haldeman, who was then his White House chief of staff, in which the former President endorsed a suggestion that Teamster Union "thugs" be employed to assault anti-Vietnam war protesters. The charge was made in court papers filed by a lawyer representing 1,200 antiwar demonstrators who were arrested unconstitutionally on the Capitol steps on the day the tape recording was made. [New York Times]
- Additional design errors at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo, Calif., have been found in the plant's earthquake safeguards and extend to the support structure for the plant's electrical cabling system, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company has told federal authorities. The utility recently reported that the use of the wrong blueprint had led to the improper placement of earthquake supports designed to protect several the plant's cooling systems. [New York Times]
- Lech Walesa was re-elected chairman of the Solidarity union, but his margin indicated that his leadership was not as unshakeable as it once was. Against three other candidates, he won slightly more than 55 percent of the 837 votes cast at the union's convention in Gdansk. [New York Times]
- American assistance with the Awacs is necessary, a State Department spokesman said after a meeting in New York between Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and Secretary of State Alexander Haig. American aid for "the support" of the five surveillance planes that the administration proposes to sell to the Saudis would be necessary well into the 1990's, the spokesman said. But Defense Department estimates of the time needed to train Saudi crews are much less than 10 years. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 860.73 (+8.47, +0.99%)
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* |
| October 1, 1981 | 852.26 | 117.08 | 41.59 |
| September 30, 1981 | 849.96 | 116.18 | 40.70 |
| September 29, 1981 | 847.89 | 115.94 | 49.79 |
| September 28, 1981 | 842.56 | 115.53 | 61.32 |
| September 25, 1981 | 824.01 | 112.77 | 54.39 |
| September 24, 1981 | 835.14 | 115.01 | 48.88 |
| September 23, 1981 | 840.94 | 115.65 | 52.69 |
| September 22, 1981 | 845.70 | 116.68 | 46.81 |
| September 21, 1981 | 846.56 | 117.24 | 44.56 |
| September 18, 1981 | 836.19 | 116.25 | 47.34 |