News stories from Monday August 16, 1982

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

The President appealed for support from Republicans and Democrats for his $98.3 billion tax bill, which he said was essential to achieving economic recovery. He acknowledged in a television address that the bill might not be politically popular and said that he was seeking passage of the bill because it would, when combined with cuts in government spending, reduce interest rates and put more Americans back to work again. [New York Times] A freeze on dairy price supports for two years and a reduction in cost-of-living increases for federal retirees were the key issues to be decided tomorrow by House-Senate conferees, when they complete negotiations on $13.6 billion in spending cuts over the next three fiscal years. Resistance to those and other deficit reducing provisions is expected in the House and Senate later this week. [New York Times] Citicorp got preliminary approval to enter the California banking market through the purchase of a major savings and loan association. Over the opposition of California bankers, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board approved the New York-based Citicorp's bid to acquire the Fidelity Savings and Loan Association of San Francisco. This would be the first time a commercial bank would be permitted to cross state lines to acquire a savings and loan institution. [New York Times] A fight over access to abortion shaped up as the Senate began a long-awaited debate on the issue. Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, offered a proposal clearing the way for Congress to restrict abortion. But before Mr. Helms had a chance to speak further, Senator Bob Packwood, Republican of Oregon, began a filibuster, reading from a book on the history of abortion in the United States. He is leading the forces seeking to retain abortion availability as it now exists. [New York Times] A ban on federal flood insurance for new constrution projects on 188 coastal barrier beaches along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts has been proposed by Interior Secretary James Watt in an evaluation ordered by Congress last year. [New York Times] An illegal immigrant was sought in the slaying of an unarmed security guard in a motel near Kennedy International Airport. The immigrant, identified as Ramon Cuevas, was awaiting return to the Dominican Republic. The guard had been strangled with a telephone wire, and his car was missing. [New York Times] A final accord on a P.L.O. pullout from west Beirut is being delayed only by minor issues, parties to the agreement said. The differences between Lebanon, the P.L.O. and and Israel have narrowed to the point where they have almost disappeared," Prime Minister Shafik al-Wazzan of Lebanon said. He made the remarks after a briefing by Philip Habib, the special United States envoy, who returned to Beirut from Jerusalem. [New York Times] Egypt has again told the United States that it will not accept any Palestinian guerrillas evacuated from west Beirut unless the Reagan administration makes a commitment to bring about an overall Middle East settlement, including self-determination for the Palestinians. In messages to the United States charge d'affaires in Cairo, Egypt also said it would not consider a resumption of suspended talks with Israel about Palestinian autonomy as long as Israeli forces remain in Lebanon. [New York Times] U.S.-Chinese relations with Taiwan will be governed by a communique signed by both countries. Reagan administration officials said the document should prevent a major rift with Peking. In the communique, expected to be made public Tuesday, China pledges to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan, and the United States promises not to exceed current levels of arms sales to Taiwan and to reduce them gradually. [New York Times] The Dominican Republic is bankrupt, its new President said in his inaugural address. President Salvador Jorge Blanco's chronicle of his country's economic devastation was similar to those being heard throughout the Caribbean region as prices for agricultural exports -- particularly sugar -- fall and the price of imported oil rises. "We are victims of factors outside our control," he said, mentioning United States protectionism and its estimated deficit, "which keeps international interest rates exaggeratedly high." [New York Times] The U.S. is mainly responsible for fomenting unrest in Poland, the country's leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski told Leonid Brezhnev at a meeting in the Crimea, where the Soviet leader is vacationing, according to Tass, the Soviet press agency. Poland's emergence "from the crisis is being held back by a counterrevolutionary underground, whose activities are inspired and supported from the outside, mainly from the United States," the general was reported as having said. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 792.43 (+4.38, +0.56%)
S&P Composite: 104.09 (+0.24, +0.23%)
Arms Index: 1.35

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,146	32.79
Declines	411	15.89
Unchanged	374	6.74
Total Volume		55.42

* 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*
August 13, 1982	788.05	103.85	44.72
August 12, 1982	776.92	102.42	50.04
August 11, 1982	777.21	102.60	49.04
August 10, 1982	779.30	102.84	52.65
August 9, 1982	780.35	103.08	54.56
August 6, 1982	784.34	103.71	48.65
August 5, 1982	795.85	105.16	54.69
August 4, 1982	803.46	106.14	53.44
August 3, 1982	816.40	107.83	60.48
August 2, 1982	822.11	108.98	53.48