News stories from Thursday September 23, 1982

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

The White House, shifting stragegy, has decided that abortion and other social issues do not have a national impact on voters and therefore should be stressed only to selected audiences. President Reagan's advisers said the major issue that must be discussed is the economy. One aide said Mr. Reagan would stress new jobs, "especially, if we go above 10 percent unemployment next month." [New York Times] The Senate rebuffed the President and the conservative campaign to promote social issues by shelving a proposal to permit organized prayer in the public schools. Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, failed in a final attempt to attach a prayer rider to a bill to raise the national debt ceiling. [New York Times] The inflation rate eased in August, the Labor Department reported. It said that consumer prices rose only three-tenths of 1 percent, indicating that inflation for the year might have slowed to the lowest level in six years and to less than half the rate in 1979 and 1980. For 1982, the Consumer Price Index is now up at an annual rate of 5.1 percent. [New York Times] A lag in new church members was reported in a study commissioned by the National Council of Churches. The study found that church membership from 1971 to 1980 fell behind the nation's population growth rate, sharply reversing a pattern in the two previous decades. [New York Times] Juan Corona was convicted for the second time of first-degree murder in the deaths of 25 farm workers in 1971. The jury in Hayward, Calif., deliberated 54 hours over 10 days in a trial that lasted seven months. [New York Times] A leading diplomat is retiring after nearly 41 years in the Foreign Service. Deputy Secretary of State Walter Stoessel, who leaves tomorrow, is the only career diplomat in more than three decades to rise to the No. 2 State Department post. [New York Times] Mario Cuomo, in a stunning upset, defeated New York City Mayor Ed Koch in winning the Democratic nomination for governor of New York, while Lewis Lehrman won an expected but overwhelming 4-to-1 victory over Paul Curran for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. [New York Times] Lebanon's new President, Amin Gemayel, took office with a pledge to revitalize the country and rid it of foreign troops. Mr. Gemayel, a Maronite Christian, also made a gesture to Moslem leaders, vowing to maintain Lebanon's ties to the Arab countries, which he referred to as "our Arab brothers." [New York Times] The Vice President urged Arab states to affirm "with clarity" that Israel had a right to exist. Vice President Bush, in an evenhanded speech on administration policy, urged Israel to recognize that Palestinians "have legitimate rights" and deserved more than "squalid camps." [New York Times] New Salvadoran elections were discussed by provisional President Alvaro Alfredo Magana. In an interview, he said he expected a new constitution to be ready by next spring, and he affirmed that national and municipal elections would be held in 1984. Mr. Magana said the government would announce details of plans for the balloting next week. [New York Times] Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong will be reasserted, Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang said, but he insisted that residents of the British crown colony had no cause for concern. The Peking leader made the remarks to journalists before receiving Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the Great Hall of the People for talks focusing on the future of the colony. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 925.77 (-1.84, -0.20%)
S&P Composite: 123.81 (-0.18, -0.15%)
Arms Index: 0.70

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	638	29.37
Declines	880	28.19
Unchanged	382	10.70
Total Volume		68.26

* 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*
September 22, 1982	927.61	123.99	113.09
September 21, 1982	934.79	124.88	82.89
September 20, 1982	916.30	122.51	58.52
September 17, 1982	916.94	122.55	63.94
September 16, 1982	927.80	123.77	78.89
September 15, 1982	930.46	124.29	69.67
September 14, 1982	923.01	123.10	83.06
September 13, 1982	918.69	122.24	59.51
September 10, 1982	906.82	120.97	71.07
September 9, 1982	912.53	121.97	73.08