News stories from Tuesday May 4, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Quotas on sugar imports are planned by President Reagan. The new quotas will force consumers to pay more for sugar while the government will save several hundred million dollars by not having to buy and store domestic sugar under the price support program Mr. Reagan accepted last year in return for farm state Democratic votes for his budget. [New York Times]
- John W. Hinckley heard himself portrayed by a prosecutor as a "calculating" assailant and by his own attorney as a failure and "loner" who gradually retreated from reality into fantasy and lost his "sense of identity." Mr. Hinckley is on trial for the shooting of President Reagan and three other men. [New York Times]
- The Senate met in closed session and amid extraordinary security for a briefing on Soviet military capability. The senators are moving into debate on the asdministration's $180.2 billion military budget. [New York Times]
- A budget rebuff for President Reagan was signaled by Pete Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, who is chairman of the Senate Budget Com-mittee. He proposed a major compromise that included a one-year moratorium on rises in Social Security benefits and most social programs and a three-year tax increase of $125 billion. Senator Domenici said he did not rule out a freeze on the third year of the income tax cut. [New York Times]
- Big double-trailer trucks could enter every state under a proposal planned by Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis for a federal takeover of truck size rules. He said the plan would allow truckers to carry maximum loads freely without having to dodge the 14 states with tighter rules. In exchange, he hopes, truck owners would accept higher taxes. [New York Times]
- A British destroyer was disabled and set afire by an Argentine jet fighter, Britain announced. The destroyer Sheffield, struck by a high-explosive missile, was abandoned and was said to have sunk. Defense Minister John Nott said that as many as 30 members of the crew, which normally totals 299, might have died despite intensive rescue efforts. In Washington, intelligence sources said that a major naval battle was still raging off the Falklands. Earlier, Britain announced that a fighter-bomber had been shot down during a raid on air strips in the islands and that the pilot had been killed. [New York Times]
- Argentina announced the rescue of at least 680 survivors from the torpedoed cruiser General Belgrano and said that a search was continuing for the 362 other crew members. The American Embassy in Buenos Aires said it was evacuating "non-essential personnel" and dependents. [New York Times]
- Alexander Haig canceled a scheduled trip to New York and rushed back to the State Department for talks with the British Ambassador on the Falklands crisis. A department spokesman said that the talks had entered "an extremely delicate and critical phase." [New York Times]
- The loss of the Sheffield gave added urgency to the peace proposals for the South Atlantic advanced by Secretary General Perez de Cuellar. He said he expected replies from Argentina and Britain on Thursday. [New York Times]
- The torpedoing of the cruiser General Belgrano provoked a sharp debate in London over the propriety of sinking a ship outside Britain's 200-mile block-ade zone around the Falklands. The attack cast the first serious doubt on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's handling of the crisis.
Britain's allies expressed shock and dismay over the sinking of the Argentine cruiser in statements issued before the announcement of the loss of Britain's destroyer.
[New York Times] - Polish officials reimposed curbs because of Monday's violent clashes be-tween anti-government demonstrators and riot policemen throughout the country. The military authorities moved swiftly to reassert control by reinstating curfews, cutting telephone service and imposing other restrictions in selected regions. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 854.45 (+5.42, +0.64%)
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* |
| May 3, 1982 | 849.03 | 116.81 | 46.48 |
| April 30, 1982 | 848.35 | 116.44 | 48.03 |
| April 29, 1982 | 844.94 | 116.13 | 51.33 |
| April 28, 1982 | 852.64 | 117.26 | 50.52 |
| April 27, 1982 | 857.50 | 118.00 | 56.48 |
| April 26, 1982 | 865.58 | 119.26 | 60.50 |
| April 23, 1982 | 862.16 | 118.64 | 71.85 |
| April 22, 1982 | 853.12 | 117.19 | 64.46 |
| April 21, 1982 | 843.42 | 115.72 | 57.81 |
| April 20, 1982 | 840.56 | 115.44 | 54.60 |