News stories from Tuesday July 20, 1982

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

Policy on nuclear tests generated controversy. President Reagan's decision not to negotiate a comprehensive ban on the testing until verification provisions of two existing treaties can be strengthened prompted sharp criticism by leading Democrats and concern by Charles Percy, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. [New York Times] New power over benefit programs is sought by the Department of Health and Human Services. It wants to make major changes in the rules governing such programs as Social Security and Medicaid without giving advance notice to the public or receiving public comment. The proposal would significantly increase the department's power, but it could not make a change inconsistent with laws approved by Congress. [New York Times] Increased labor influence in politics is being actively sought by COPE, the political arm of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., which has begun providing candidates with advice as well as contributions. COPE is giving congressional aspirants, most of them Democrats, instruction in how to plan a campaign or conduct a poll. [New York Times] Hearings on covert operations opened, and a Senate committee quickly focused on the use of such inquiries in corruption cases involving government officials. Several Senators stressed they were not hostile to efforts by the F.B.I. to ferret out corruption, but their concern about operations like the Abscam investigation were evident. [New York Times] A new plan for breaking the siege of west Beirut was outlined to President Reagan by the foreign ministers of Syria and Saudi Arabia at a 90-minute meeting at the White House, according to administration officials. They said the proposal called for temporarily moving the 6,000 besieged Palestinian fighters to northern Lebanon before they are evacuated to other Arab countries. [New York Times] Soviet support for withdrawal of the Palestinians from west Beirut appeared likely. Leonid Brezhnev endorsed the use of a United Nations force to end the impasse as he restated opposition to any involvement by American forces. [New York Times] Support for Israel has eroded in Congress to what some members describe as its lowest point because of the war in Lebanon. But more than a score of legislators from both parties said they did not believe that the disaffection had reached the point where many Congressmen would oppose further aid for Jerusalem. [New York Times] Iraq's successful defense of its territory in the face of a major Iranian offensive has turned the momentum of the war in Baghdad's favor, according to American officials monitoring the heavy week-long fighting. [New York Times] Eight British soldiers were killed and 51 people were wounded when two bombs placed by Irish nationalists exploded in two London parks. In Hyde Park, two members of the Queen's Household Cavalry were killed by a car bomb as they rode from their barracks to a changing of the guard ceremony at Whitehall. In Regent's Park two hours later, six army musicians died when a bomb exploded under the bandstand during a performance by the Royal Greenjackets. [New York Times] Sketchy data on a British spy case were provided by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher before an unruly House of Commons, but she declined to give details. She confirmed that Geoffrey Arthur Prime, who was arrested last week, worked from 1968 to 1977 at the government's secret electronic eavesdropping center. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 833.43 (+7.33, +0.89%)
S&P Composite: 111.54 (+0.81, +0.73%)
Arms Index: 0.74

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	861	35.00
Declines	582	17.58
Unchanged	443	8.48
Total Volume		61.06

* 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*
July 19, 1982	826.10	110.73	53.03
July 16, 1982	828.67	111.07	58.77
July 15, 1982	827.34	110.47	61.08
July 14, 1982	828.39	110.44	58.03
July 13, 1982	824.20	109.45	66.16
July 12, 1982	824.87	109.57	74.70
July 9, 1982	814.12	108.83	65.87
July 8, 1982	804.98	107.53	63.27
July 7, 1982	799.66	107.22	46.91
July 6, 1982	798.90	107.29	44.35