News stories from Friday December 4, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The jobless rate rose to 8.4 percent in November after a sharp increase in heavy industry layoffs. It was the highest jobless rate since the severe recession of 1974-75. Dr. Janet Norwood, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, said that two-thirds of the 235,000 jobs last last month had been in durable goods industries and that the number of layoffs was especially high in plants producing transportation equipment, fabricated metals and electrical equipment. She told members of the Senate Joint Economic Committee that the number of unemployed people had increased by 20 percent since July. [New York Times]
- A $208 billion military bill was approved by the Senate, 84 to 5. It was the largest arms measure ever to be approved by the Senate or House, and exceeded President Reagan's own appropriation request by almost $8 billion and last year's allocation by $37 billion. [New York Times]
- Surveillance of Americans at home and abroad by United States intelligence agencies will be broadened under an executive order from President Reagan that also authorizes the Central Intelligence Agency for the first time to conduct domestic covert operations. But the 17-page order omitted most of the provisions of an earlier draft that were opposed by civil liberties groups and members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, including a provision that would have permitted the C.I.A. to infiltrate and influence American organizations without a warrant. [New York Times]
- Eugene Tafoya was convicted of two misdemeanor assault charges in the shooting of a student in Fort Collins, Colo., last year, but was acquitted of attempted murder. Mr. Tafoya, a former Green Beret, contended that he was on assignment for the Central Intelligence Agency when he shot the Libyan student, Faisal Zagallai. [New York Times]
- The Ivy League's football teams maintained by its eight universities were forced out of the Division 1-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the group whose members field the most powerful collegiate teams. Four of the Ivy League teams did not meet new criteria on stadium seating capacity or season attendance. Without the Ivy League teams, the division's membership will be reduced from 137 teams to fewer than 100. [New York Times]
- A national protest strike in Poland will follow if the government carries out the Communist Party's demand for new law that would give the government extraordinary emergency powers, the Solidarity union announced. [New York Times]
- The Sakharovs have been hospitalized, the official Soviet press agency, Tass, announced. They were taken to a hospital, apparently to bring an end to the hunger strike that the human rights activists began nearly two weeks ago. Andrei Sakharov, a physicist, and his wife, Yelena Bonner, began their strike in their isolated apartment in Gorky, where they had been exiled, with only mineral water for sustenance. Tass said that physicians reported that "medical assistance is being administered to them to prevent any complications in the state of their health." [New York Times]
- Nicaragua's military buildup is "but a prelude to a widening war in Central America," Secretary of State Alexander Haig said in calling on Western Hemisphere nations to help stop a regional arms race. In an address to the Organization of American States General Assembly in Castries, St. Lucia, he also outlined a new economic assistance program for the Caribbean basin that contained proposals for one-way free trade agreements with small nations. This was the first concrete indication of the administration's aid program for the Caribbean basin. [New York Times]
- The U.S. reassured Turkish leaders that NATO would not agree to Greece's demand for "guarantees" against Turkey. The Defense Department said that Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who is visiting Ankara, told Turkish officials that the Greek demand was "inconceivable" because Turkey is not considered to be a threat to its neighbor. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 892.69 (+8.84, +1.00%)
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* |
| December 3, 1981 | 883.85 | 125.12 | 43.77 |
| December 2, 1981 | 882.61 | 124.69 | 44.50 |
| December 1, 1981 | 890.22 | 126.10 | 53.99 |
| November 30, 1981 | 888.98 | 126.35 | 47.57 |
| 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 |