News stories from Wednesday December 23, 1981

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

The imposition of economic sanctions against Poland was announced by President Reagan. In a national televised address, the President deplored the Warsaw government for "outrages" against Poles and said he had warned the Kremlin that if the crackdown in Poland continued, the United States would take "concrete political and economic measures" against the Soviet Union. [New York Times] The equal rights drive suffered a major setback. A federal district judge in Idaho ruled that Congress acted unconstitutionally in 1979 when it extended the deadline for the states' ratification of the proposed equal rights amendment. Judge Marion Callister also held that state legislatures could rescind their actions at any point before the necessary 38 states voted to ratify.Backers of the equal rights plan vowed that the ruling by the federal judge in Idaho would be appealed directly and immediately to the Supreme Court. But the proponents conceded that the ruling had dealt a serious blow to the ratification effort, which is set to end next June 30. [New York Times] Richard Allen was exonerated in a Justice Department investigation, Attorney General William French Smith announced. He said Mr. Allen, who is on administrative leave as President Reagan's national security adviser, had not acted illegally in accepting three watches from Japanese associates or in omitting data from his financial disclosure form and that a special prosecutor would not be appointed to conduct a new inquiry. [New York Times] A key curb in offshore energy leasing has been decided by Interior Secretary James Watt in an effort to reduce opposition to the heavily criticized program. Mr. Watt directed that the oil and gas leasing program be focused on tracts determined by industry or by the federal or state governments to have a high potential for development. His original plan called for making nearly a billion offshore tracts available for leasing. [New York Times] Bleak auto sales were reported by Detroit's Big Three manufacturers in a situation that analysts predicted would be the worst sales year since 1961. As the grim year ends, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler said their sales in mid-December declined by more than 22.5 percent from the comparable period of last year, which was also a dreary selling period. [New York Times] Contrasts between wealth and want dominate American municipalities this Christmas season. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa (population 110,000), the downtown shops and airport are wall to wall with holiday throngs while the city's industries are experiencing retrenchment and layoffs. [New York Times] The private paramilitary training in the United States by Latin American exiles who say they plan to overthrow leftist regimes in Nicaragua, Cuba and Panama is prompting questions of whether such activities are crimes under federal conspiracy laws. Also at issue is the question of whether the United States is violating its international obligations. [New York Times] Polish workers' resistance to martial law has been more widespread and persistent than the authorities anticipated, according to information reaching the New York Times from Poland. Knowledgeable sources said that perhaps as many as 20,000 people had been arrested or interned since a roundup began Dec. 13. Many of the prisoners, the sources said, have little food, clothing or heating in temperatures as low as 10 degrees. [New York Times] Polish forces brought an end to a strike at a steel mill in Silesia, but more than 1,000 coal miners carried a protest strike against the regime into the 10th day, the Warsaw radio reported. Government broadcasts monitored outside Poland said that about 1,000 coal miners remained underground in a mine in southern Poland. [New York Times] People in Warsaw are demoralized, according to information reaching the Times from Poland. Travel is rigidly restricted, sales of gasoline are prohibited, the telephones do not function and the people stay indoors much of the time, worrying, waiting and, according to a writer, watching the "country fall apart." [New York Times] Saudi Arabia backed Syria in its efforts to have Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights canceled. The Saudis also warned that if peaceful efforts failed, Arabs would consider other "appropriate measures." [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 869.67 (-2.29, -0.26%)
S&P Composite: 122.31 (-0.57, -0.46%)
Arms Index: 1.28

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	586	12.03
Declines	914	23.97
Unchanged	475	6.91
Total Volume		42.91

* 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*
December 22, 1981	871.96	122.88	48.32
December 21, 1981	873.10	123.34	41.31
December 18, 1981	875.76	124.00	50.95
December 17, 1981	870.53	123.12	47.22
December 16, 1981	868.72	122.42	42.37
December 15, 1981	875.95	122.99	44.13
December 14, 1981	871.48	122.78	44.81
December 11, 1981	886.51	124.93	45.84
December 10, 1981	892.03	125.71	47.02
December 9, 1981	888.22	125.48	44.80