News stories from Monday November 30, 1981

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

Richard Allen said that during an interview last week with federal agents he opened five gifts that had been stored in the same safe with $1,000 in cash he was given by a Japanese magazine. Mr. Allen, who is on leave as President Reagan's national security adviser, said that the gifts were insignificant in value. [New York Times] President Reagan pledged no retreat in his program of deep cuts in the budget and taxes. Addressing 250 Republicans in Cincinnati, the President conceded that the economy was in a recession and that unemployment had risen. He ridiculed the Democrats in general and House Speaker Tip O'Neill in particular. [New York Times] James Florio conceded defeat in the gubernatorial election in New Jersey and cleared the way for Thomas Kean, the Republican candidate, to be certified as the winner and to be sworn in as the state's 71st Governor on Jan 19. Mr. Kean had a 1,677-vote lead in the initial count of the 2.3 million ballots, and although 3,000 votes have changed in the recount, his lead remains almost unchanged. [New York Times] The Harrison Williams case is to be posponed in the Senate until January. Senate leaders agreed to put off efforts to expel the Senator of New Jersey after the defense requested more time to prepare its case. As a result, if the Democratic Senator, who has been convicted of bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam scandals, is ultimately expelled, his successor will be appointed not by a Democratic Governor, but by a Republican. [New York Times] Harry Byrd will not seek re-election next year. In announcing his decision, the Virginian, who is the only independent in the Senate, said that "18 years is long enough." Senator Byrd's retirement opens what promises to be a hard fight for the seat he has held since 1965. [New York Times] Attorneys for Richard Nixon and two of his top White House aides sought to persuade the Supreme Court that a President and his close advisers were entitled to absolute immunity from lawsuits by private citizens. The case involves a long-running suit brought by Ernest Fitzgerald, a civilian budget analyst for the Air Force, who was dismissed in 1969 after he exposed cost overruns in the C5-A transport plane. [New York Times] The Marathon Oil Company won a preliminary injunction, blocking a $6.5 billion takeover attempt by the Mobil Corporation on antitrust grounds. Mobil was appealing the ruling in two federal courts. If upheld, the 17-page opinion by a federal judge could cool the interest in multibillion-dollar oil company takeovers. [New York Times] The White House Conference on Aging, which promises to provide a testing ground for some of the social policies of the Reagan administration, opened in a relatively smooth manner. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Richard Schweiker, delivered a keynote address in which he sidestepped one of the most controversial issues -- Social Security. [New York Times] An American-Israeli agreement that strengthens their strategic cooperation was announced in Washington. The understanding, which does not require Senate approval, is directed against threats to the Middle East "caused by the Soviet Union or Soviet-controlled forces from outside the region." [New York Times] Nuclear arms talks began in Geneva. The first meeting on efforts to reduce the weapons in Europe was characterized by Paul Nitze, the chief American negotiator, as "cordial and businesslike," and by a Soviet spokesman as "very constructive, with both sides striving for agreement." [New York Times] A warning on nuclear safeguards was expressed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In a letter to the chairmen of congressional committees, the commission said unanimously it had concluded that the international system of safeguards designed to prevent the diversion of nuclear materials to atomic weapons "would not detect a diversion in at least some types of facilities." [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 888.98 (+3.04, +0.34%)
S&P Composite: 126.35 (+1.26, +1.01%)
Arms Index: 0.72

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	998	29.09
Declines	569	11.96
Unchanged	380	6.53
Total Volume		47.58

* 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*
November 27, 1981	885.94	125.09	32.77
November 25, 1981	878.14	124.05	58.57
November 24, 1981	870.24	123.51	53.37
November 23, 1981	851.79	121.60	45.27
November 20, 1981	852.93	121.71	52.01
November 19, 1981	844.75	120.71	48.72
November 18, 1981	844.06	120.26	49.98
November 17, 1981	850.17	121.15	43.19
November 16, 1981	845.03	120.24	43.74
November 13, 1981	855.88	121.67	45.57