News stories from Thursday March 12, 1981

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

A rising Democratic counterattack against President Reagan's economic program was evident in Congress. Representative Jim Wright of Texas, the majority leader, urged his Democratic colleagues in the House to respond with firm criticism. He charged that the program "imposes a grossly unfair burden on the truly needy." [New York Times] The nation's cities assailed budget cuts proposed by President Reagan. In a 76-page analysis, the United States Conference of Mayors contended that 66 percent of the planned reductions involved grants for the states and the municipalities, even though these programs account for only 14.2 percent of total federal spending. [New York Times] New York City would lose $353 million in federal assistance in the next fiscal year if Congress approves President Reagan's proposed budget cuts, according to Mayor Koch. But he said he would still be able to produce a balanced city budget. [New York Times] In a show of fiscal restraint, both the House and Senate rejected overwhelmingly a proposed 16.8 percent raise for themselves, the federal judiciary, cabinet members and 37,000 senior government employees. [New York Times] Changes in the Social Security system were urged by a divided commission. In a comprehensive four-year study, the panel recommended a gradual shift toward later retirement starting in the year 2000, partial use of general tax revenues to pay benefits and adoption by Congress of a 2½ percent surcharge on individual income taxes. [New York Times] The issue of Japanese car imports has deeply divided the Reagan cabinet. As a result, the President deferred a decision on whether to seek relief for the ailing American auto industry by asking Tokyo to voluntarily restrain exports to this country. [New York Times] Opponents of mandatory busing won an unexpected victory that may lead to a dismantling of the busing program in the Los Angeles school district. The California Supreme Court declined to judge the merits of an anti-busing initiative that was approved by voters in 1979 and upheld as constitutional by an appeals court. [New York Times] Key marijuana-smuggling indictments were issued against 155 persons by federal grand juries in Florida, Louisiana and Georgia after a two-year investigation of the multimillion-dollar groups that ship the drug from Colombia to the United States. [New York Times] Sohio is buying Kennecott, the nation's largest copper producer, for almost $1.8 billion in cash, the two companies announced jointly. The purchase by the Standard Oil Company (Ohio) was the third multibillion-dollar takeover move and the second one involving a major American oil company announced in the last week. [New York Times] Acceding to demands by hijackers, the Pakistani government agreed to release 55 prisoners. The hijackers had threatened to kill three Americans they are holding with about 100 others in an airliner at the Damascus airport. [New York Times] A Soviet ballet dancer was seized on a Moscow street. The dancer, Yuri Stepanov, defected 14 months ago while on a tour of Italy, but returned home voluntarily two and a half months later. He recently denied a Soviet press account of his allegedly miserable life as a defector in the United States and said he had returned to Moscow only because he feared Soviet reprisals against his family. [New York Times] A Moscow-Bonn deal will be reviewed by West Germany, according to a top aide in Bonn, who spoke about the extent of participation in a natural gas project in Siberia. The accord is regarded by some Reagan administration officials as raising Western Europe's dependence on Soviet energy to a perilous degree. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 989.82 (+22.15, +2.29%)
S&P Composite: 133.19 (+3.24, +2.49%)
Arms Index: 0.33

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,195	46.86
Declines	347	4.53
Unchanged	357	3.25
Total Volume		54.64

* 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*
March 11, 1981	967.67	129.95	47.39
March 10, 1981	972.66	130.46	56.61
March 9, 1981	976.42	131.12	46.17
March 6, 1981	964.62	129.85	43.93
March 5, 1981	964.62	129.93	45.37
March 4, 1981	971.44	130.86	47.25
March 3, 1981	966.02	130.56	48.73
March 2, 1981	977.99	132.01	47.71
February 27, 1981	974.58	131.27	53.20
February 26, 1981	966.81	130.10	60.31