News stories from Wednesday March 17, 1982

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

House Democrats indicated support for a proposal to bring President Reagan's proposed budget to the House floor. The proposal was made by Representive James Jones, chairman of the House Budget Committee, who believes that the program will be overwhelmingly rejected. [New York Times] Three Representatives were ousted in the Illinois primary and a fourth held his seat by a narrow margin. It was the first election since the 1980 reapportionment, which reduced the Illinois delegation in Congress by two seats and placed some incumbents in the same district. [New York Times] The F.A.A. was assailed over its handling of employees in a 150-page report by a team of experts chosen by the Reagan administration. The panel said that the Federal Aviation Administration had developed "a rigid and insensitive system of people management" both before and after the start of the strike by air traffic controllers last August. [New York Times] A shift on toxic waste disposal was announced by the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency, which lifted the ban on burying drums of the hazardous liquids in landfills three weeks ago, said that, instead, it was establishing a new interim rule prohibiting the burial of any container in which toxic liquids are standing in observable quantities. [New York Times] Safeguards for intelligence agents were approved by the Senate after months of debate. The bill, similar to one passed in the House, would make it illegal for individuals, including journalists, to identify American agents if they had "reason to believe" that the disclosure would damage intelligence activities. [New York Times] A Caribbean basin aid bill that includes a request for $128 million in emergency economic assistance for El Salvador was sent to Congress by the Reagan administration. The request would bring the total of projected economic assistance for El Salvador this year to $232.5 million. [New York Times] El Salvador's shaky economy is surviving only because of international aid, mostly from the United States. The assistance, including an anticipated $232.5 million in grants and long term loans from Washington and about $160 million from international lending institutions, has the modest goal of maintaining the economy at zero growth for 1982. In addition, the United States has provided $80 million in military aid. [New York Times] The five Salvadoran rebel groups that are trying to topple the civilian-military junta are headed by Marxists who now say they are ready to accept a negotiated settlement instead of pressing for a socialist revolution. They have drawn up a peace plan that is more moderate than any previous leftist program. [New York Times] The first group of American troops flew to the Sinai to join the multi-national peacekeeping force that is to patrol the region after Israel withdraws next month. The 670 troopers from the 82nd Airborne Division are the vanguard of a United States contingent of more than 1,100. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 795.85 (-2.48, -0.31%)
S&P Composite: 109.08 (-0.20, -0.18%)
Arms Index: 0.88

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	674	19.68
Declines	779	20.05
Unchanged	419	9.17
Total Volume		48.90

* 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 16, 1982	798.33	109.28	50.23
March 15, 1982	800.99	109.45	43.37
March 12, 1982	797.37	108.61	49.59
March 11, 1982	805.56	109.36	52.95
March 10, 1982	804.89	109.41	59.44
March 9, 1982	803.84	108.83	76.06
March 8, 1982	795.47	107.35	67.33
March 5, 1982	807.36	109.34	67.44
March 4, 1982	807.55	109.88	74.34
March 3, 1982	815.16	110.92	70.26