News stories from Friday October 8, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The nation's jobless rate rose three-tenths of a percentage point last month to 10.1 percent, the highest rate since 1940, the government reported. The rise to a double-digit rate for the first time since the Depression was announced less than four weeks before the congressional elections, providing the Democrats with more ammunition for their criticism of President Reagan's economic program. [New York Times]
- President Reagan conceded that the rise in unemployment was "bad news," He said he would accept responsibility for the increase in unemployment since he took office 20 months ago if the Democrats accepted responsibility for the unemployment before January 1981. [New York Times]
- Further declines in interest rates as well as an easing of monetary policy were signaled by the Federal Reserve Board, which announced it had lowered the interest rate it charges on loans to banks to 9½ percent from 10 percent. Even before the announcement, the stock market soared for the third successive day, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing up 20.88 points. [New York Times]
- A pact with Chrysler is being rejected by more than 2 to 1 in a ratification vote by members of the United Automobile Workers. Douglas Fraser, the union president, said that the trend was prompted by a provision making any pay increase contingent on Chrysler profits. [New York Times]
- The team investigating seven deaths in the Chicago area from Tylenol tainted with cyanide sent several agents to Wyoming to investigate the unexplained cyanide death there in July of a youth who reportedly took Extra Strength Tylenol. Meanwhile, the chief invesigator confirmed that aides were studying a $1 million extortion attempt purportedly made by a Chicago businessman against Johnson & Johnson, the corporate parent of Tylenol's manufacturer. [New York Times]
- An ailment linked to hamburger was described by federal researchers as a previously unidentified intestinal disease caused by a bacteria that often hospitalizes victims with very severe pain, usually for less than a week. Epidemiologists have detected scores of cases across the country that occurred after victims ate hamburger at home as well as at McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. [New York Times]
- Ten more deportation proceedings against suspected Nazi war criminals are being pressed by government prosecutors. They have also widened the search for new suspects through a systematic comparison of a 50,000-name Nazi SS roster with American immigration records. [New York Times]
- The death of newspapers in Des Moines and many other cities is mourned by many public officials and other readers. The "diversity of voices" that the press has long described as a necessity is being reduced by another necessity. Companies that owned and operated two newspapers have bent to what they say is an economic fact of life, that "the market" will sustain only one profitable paper. [New York Times]
- A law to ban Solidarity was overwhelmingly approved by Poland's Parliament. The law abolishes all labor organizations, including the independent trade union that once commanded the allegiance of nearly 10 million Poles. [New York Times]
- Lebanese troops used bulldozers to demolish what were described as illegally built shops and houses in a shantytown in the southern outskirts of West Beirut. Officials said the buildings were put up by Shiite Moslems without government approval as long ago as the 1975-76 civil war. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 986.85 (+20.88, +2.16%)
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* |
| October 7, 1982 | 965.97 | 128.80 | 147.08 |
| October 6, 1982 | 944.26 | 125.97 | 93.57 |
| October 5, 1982 | 907.19 | 121.98 | 69.77 |
| October 4, 1982 | 903.61 | 121.51 | 55.65 |
| October 1, 1982 | 907.74 | 121.97 | 65.00 |
| September 30, 1982 | 896.25 | 120.42 | 62.61 |
| September 29, 1982 | 906.27 | 121.63 | 62.54 |
| September 28, 1982 | 919.33 | 123.24 | 65.90 |
| September 27, 1982 | 920.90 | 123.62 | 44.83 |
| September 24, 1982 | 919.52 | 123.32 | 54.59 |