News stories from Wednesday July 21, 1982

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

Plans for fighting a long nuclear war are protested in a letter signed by 50 members of Congress, most of them Democrats. The letter urges President Reagan to reasses the policy approved recently by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. [New York Times] The MX missile won narrow backing as the House defeated, 212 to 209, a bill that would have halted spending for production of the intercontinental nuclear missile. Hours later, the Representatives decided, by a vote of 289 to 127, a heavily lobbied contest between the Boeing and Lockheed companies by upholding a Pentagon request to buy 50 Lockheed C-5 cargo planes to increase military airlift. [New York Times] William French Smith was cleared by the Justice Department of accusations of wrongdoing. In separate reports, the department said that the Attorney General had not acted improperly in accepting a $50,000 severance payment from a California steel company or in investing in a tax shelter designed to provide deductions of nearly $170,000 in two years. The department said there was no reason for a special prosecutor to study the severance pay issue. [New York Times] Dave Garroway died, apparently of a self-inflicted gun wound, at his home in Swarthmore, Pa. The amiable, low-key television personality, who was the first host of "Today" on NBC-TV, was 69 years old. [New York Times] The freeing of two-thirds of the Poles interned under martial law was announced by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish leader. Addressing Parliament, he said martial law might be suspended by the end of the year if tension subsided. [New York Times] Washington reacted cautiously to Warsaw's announcement that 1,227 Poles were being freed. The Reagan administration reserved public judgment, but several officials said privately that Poland's initiatives appeared to fall far short of what is needed for the West to lift the sanctions it set when martial law was imposed last December. [New York Times] Serious security errors and omissions were responsible for allowing an intruder to enter Queen Elizabeth's bedroom in Buckingham Palace July 9, Home Secretary William Whitelaw said. In the most detailed statement on the incident, Mr. Whitelaw disclosed that nearly 45 minutes elapsed from the time Michael Fagan scaled the outer wall until he was apprehended by the police. In the interim, he wandered freely through palace corridors and rooms. [New York Times] The Camp David accords were backed by Secretary of State George Shultz in comments just made public. Mr. Shultz said he favored no other approach to negotiations than those called for in the agreements for providing self-rule to Palestinians living in the occupied territories. On the subject of a possible withholding of aid to Israel, Mr. Shultz said that "pressure and threats" were not the best way to achieve peace. [New York Times] Israel plans to invite King Hussein of Jordan for peace talks and foresees eventual negotiations with Syria, Prime Minister Menachem Begin disclosed. Addressing a group of 150 American Jewish leaders, Mr. Begin expressed confidence that the fighting in Lebanon would end very soon and that Israel and Lebanon would sign a peace pact. [New York Times] Iran bombed Iraq's capital for the first time in more than a year, and Iraqi jets bombed key cities in Iran's main oil-producing province. Anti-aircraft batteries downed an Iranian jet, while one escaped. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 832.19 (-1.24, -0.15%)
S&P Composite: 111.42 (-0.12, -0.11%)
Arms Index: 1.27

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	812	29.10
Declines	630	28.78
Unchanged	449	8.89
Total Volume		66.77

* 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 20, 1982	833.43	111.54	61.05
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