News stories from Wednesday August 18, 1982

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

A $13.3 billion spending cut bill was approved by both houses of Congress, setting the stage for tomorrow's vote on the tax hike bill. The votes put in place the first step of the struggle to reduce the budget deficit by $130 billion. The spending cuts include a reduction in cost-of-living adjustments for retired federal employees under the age of 62, a $1.9 billion cut in food stamps and a variety of provisions to bring agricultural production in line with market needs. [New York Times] Final pleas for the $98.3 billion tax bill were made by President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill in a rare display of personal bipartisan collaboration. However, the bill appeared to be still well short of the votes needed for passage in the House of Representatives tomorrow. [New York Times] A plan for deploying MX missiles, beginning with a $2.5 billion base that would be designed to take on additions until the end of the century, was outlined by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger for a congressional subcommittee in closed session Tuesday, congressional and Pentagon officials said. [New York Times] The stock market experienced the heaviest trading on record in a spectacular session, sweeping past the 100-million-share trading milestone to a stunning 132.7 million shares. The Dow Jones industrial average, the most prominent market indicator, ended down 1.81 points at 829.43 after having climbed as much as 18 points by 1:27 P.M. [New York Times] Abortion and school prayer were debated in the Senate as conservative forces, led by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, lost a key test vote. Senator Helms had offered proposals to restrict access to abortion and to bar Supreme Court review of state laws permitting prayer in public school. [New York Times] A black Mississippi lawmaker who broke the color barrier in the state's legislature 14 years ago moved closer to becoming Mississippi's first black Congressman since 1883. State Representative Robert Clark defeated three white opponents to win the Democratic nomination in the newly reapportioned Second Congressional District, which has a slight majority of black residents but is believed to have at least as many white as black voters. [New York Times] Charges of sexual misconduct and drug use among congressional pages appear to be unfounded, according to the conclusions of a House of Representatives commission. But the commission called for closer supervision of the pages. [New York Times] A tanker truck filled with hydrocholoric acid broke open on the New Jersey Turnpike in Elizabeth sending clouds of poisonous fumes skyward and causing a mammoth traffic jam just at the start of the evening rush hour. Some families living near the area of the spill were evacuated from their homes by the local police and at least 32 motorists were taken to area hospitals for treatment, according to state police. [New York Times] Lebanon decided to request troops formally from the United States, France and Italy to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestinian guerrillas from west Beirut beginning this weekend. Prime Minister Shafik al-Wazzan of Lebanon said there were no longer any points of issue between the United States envoy, Philip Habib, the Lebanese government and Israel over the withdrawal. The decision to formally invite the multinational force marked the first step in effecting their agreement. [New York Times] The first Palestinian guerrillas are scheduled to leave west Beirut by sea on Saturday and 800 United States Marines would go ashore in the Lebanese capital five days later for peacekeeping duty, according to administration officials. The first group of guerrillas would be taken to Cyprus by ship and then flown to Jordan. The officials cautioned that the plans were subject to change. [New York Times] A final draft of the evacuation plan for Palestinian guerrillas and Syrians in west Beirut was received by Israel. Prime Minister Menachem Begin was said to be examining the proposal and the cabinet was expected to approve it Thursday. [New York Times] In Lebanon, the election of a new president, which threatened a renewed showdown between Moslems and Christians, was postponed from Thursday until Monday. The postponement came after a day in which Moslem political leaders worked to block a presidential bid by Bashir Gemeyal, the leader of the Christian militias, and Moslem leftist militias fired on the Parliament building. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 829.43 (-1.81, -0.22%)
S&P Composite: 108.53 (-0.51, -0.47%)
Arms Index: 2.14

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,267	66.21
Declines	484	54.06
Unchanged	252	12.42
Total Volume		132.69

* 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 17, 1982	831.24	109.04	92.86
August 16, 1982	792.43	104.09	55.42
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