News stories from Friday October 15, 1982

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

U.S. industrial production fell again in September, indicating that the recession may not have ended. At the same time the government's principal index of producer prices declined, signaling more relief from inflation, according to federal agencies. The declines in output and prices were signs of the weakness in the economy that has raised the unemployment rate above 10 percent and also of the slowdown of inflation that President Reagan has stressed in campaign speeches on behalf of Republican candidates for Congress. [New York Times] A system for faster reports on poison deaths is being developed by the Food and Drug Administration after the seven deaths in Chicago from Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Up-to-date national statistics on poison deaths are not available, according to the director of the agency's poison control center. At present, it takes three years for national totals of poison deaths to be gathered and the statistical categories are so broad that a pattern of deaths such as those that occurred in Chicago would not be apparent. [New York Times] Chrysler resumed contract talks with the United Auto Workers, which hoped to get an immediate hourly pay increase that would satisfy the huge majority of rank-and-file workers that rejected the union's last contract proposal. The new round of talks should be ended by 'Friday, "one way or the other" the union's president, Douglas Fraser, said. [New York Times] Farmers' income has declined in recent years more than that of any other occupational group because of high interest rates and the deepest recession in 40 years, according to Census Bureau figures. From 1979 to 1980, the median family income for farmers, managers and laborers dropped by 21.7 percent, after adjustment for inflation. In 1981 it fell again, by 11.8 percent, to $12,992, compared to the national average of $22,390. [New York Times] Control of an Agent Orange inquiry has been been given up by the Veterans Administration, which yielded to congressional pressure. The agency's administrator, Robert Nimmo, agreed to let the national Centers for Disease Control take over the investigation into whether the herbicide Agent Orange damaged the health of soldiers in Vietnam. He responded to a letter from 100 members of Congress who asked him two weeks ago to allow the disease control centers take over the inquiry. [New York Times] The U.S. opposes an Israeli proposal that Palestine Liberation Forces leave Lebanon before other foreign troops, State Department officials said. They said that in the detailed discussions on Lebanon held Thursday by Secretary of State George Shultz and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir some specific problems arose that will probably take some time to resolve. The United States, acting as an unofficial intermediary between Israel and Lebanon and Syria has avoided presenting the Israelis with a detailed American plan, officials said, pending talks next Tuesday between President Reagan and President Amin Gemayel of Lebanon. [New York Times] A U.S. offer to the Soviet Union of 23 million tons of grain will be guaranteed by President Reagan if it agrees during November to buy all of the grain, the President announced in a pre-election appeal for farm support of Republican candidates. Mr. Reagan also threatened "strong measures" to counter the "growing tide of protectionism and export subsidies overseas." [New York Times] Strikes in Poland next week to continue the protests over the outlawing of the Solidarity union were called for in leaflets circulated in several cities. Except for clashes in the southern steel center of Nowa Huta, most cities were reported to be quiet. [New York Times] A firelight in Albania has led Western diplomats to believe that its Communist regime is facing a serious internal problem. On Sept. 26 gunfire lasting five hours was heard in Corfu from the direction of Albania across the strait of the Ionian Sea. Acting with unusual speed, Albania announced that an unspecified number of "desperate men" had tried to land and had been killed by security forces. The government described one of the invaders as a friend of the son of Albania's last King, Zog, who was expelled from the country by the Italian Fascist invasion in 1940. [New York Times] An Iranian official was assassinated by a man who detonated a grenade while embracing him. The aide, Ayatollah Ashrafi Isfahani, 83 years old, was the fourth senior cleric assassinated in recent months. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 993.10 (-3.77, -0.38%)
S&P Composite: 133.57 (-1.00, -0.74%)
Arms Index: 1.27

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	699	26.38
Declines	966	46.20
Unchanged	322	7.71
Total Volume		80.29

* 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*
October 14, 1982	996.87	134.57	107.50
October 13, 1982	1015.08	136.71	139.80
October 12, 1982	1003.68	134.44	126.30
October 11, 1982	1012.79	134.47	138.53
October 8, 1982	986.85	131.05	122.26
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