News stories from Thursday January 21, 1982

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

A transfer of the food stamp program from the federal government to the states is sought by President Reagan, according to administration officials. Under the proposal, they said, the states would assume full financial responsibility for the $11.3 billion program, which has been financed almost entirely by the federal government for 20 years. In return, the federal government would assume state Medicaid costs. [New York Times] The President seemed to be wavering in his decision to propose increased excise taxes on gasoline, liquor and tobacco. Mr. Reagan's second thoughts opened the way for a battle between his aides and opponents of higher taxes, led by Representative Jack Kemp, who called them "a major political and policy error." [New York Times] Conservatives warned the President that he was allowing "the abandonment, reversal or blunting" of positions that won him election on such issues as abortion, tax policy and the Soviet Union. Spokesmen for 45 conservative activists and organization leaders denounced administration aides whom they refused to identify for subverting Mr. Reagan's conservative instincts. [New York Times] Inconsistency in foreign policy has marked the first year of the Reagan administration. The President has found it hard to translate the tough anti-Soviet oratory of his campaign into a consistent policy and has had to moderate, reshape or deter some early objectives because of frustrating realities abroad. [New York Times] A delay in arms reductions talks is likely. Reagan administration officials said that because of the Polish crisis Secretary of State Alexander Haig would probably not agree, as initially planned, to set a date for the start of the negotiations when he meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in Geneva next Tuesday. [New York Times] Staff cuts in the mine safety program imposed by the Reagan administration have prompted rising protests by Appalachian coal miners and their union. The deaths of 14 men in the coalfields in the first 20 days of 1982 and 153 in 1981 have led to appeals for congressional intervention. [New York Times] A retrenchment for the Coast Guard was announced. The plan to close 17 offices and stations and to decommission 11 vessels prompted objections by members of Congress. [New York Times] The F.B.I. has a new role in investigating narcotics traffic, Attorney General William French Smith announced. He said the bureau had been given concurrent jurisdiction with the Justice Department's Drug Enforcement Administration to fight domestic narcotics trafficking. [New York Times] A microanalyst told a murder trial that fibers found on the bodies of two young black men in Atlanta had the same "microscopic characteristics" of fibers found in the house and car of Wayne Williams, who is charged with murdering the men. [New York Times] Margaret Thatcher won a victory in her effort to tame British unions as the coal miners rejected a call by their leadership for authority to call a strike. The coal miners have been among the most aggressive of British unions, and their walkouts have crippled the nation. [New York Times] A petition against martial law and its repressions signed by more than a hundred intellectuals and artists was sent to the Polish Parliament and the Roman Catholic Primate, Archbishop Jozef Glemp. The petition, which includes an appeal to the United Nations' Human Rights Commission, is the strongest written protest to date against the Dec. 13 military takeover in Poland. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 848.27 (+2.38, +0.28%)
S&P Composite: 115.75 (+0.48, +0.42%)
Arms Index: 0.64

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	767	27.40
Declines	658	15.09
Unchanged	426	6.12
Total Volume		48.61

* 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*
January 20, 1982	845.89	115.27	48.86
January 19, 1982	847.41	115.97	45.06
January 18, 1982	855.12	117.22	44.91
January 15, 1982	847.60	116.33	43.31
January 14, 1982	842.28	115.54	42.94
January 13, 1982	838.95	114.88	49.13
January 12, 1982	847.70	116.30	49.80
January 11, 1982	850.46	116.78	51.90
January 8, 1982	866.53	119.55	42.04
January 7, 1982	861.78	118.93	43.42