News stories from Friday July 18, 1980

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

The economy declined at an annual rate of 9.1 percent from April through June, matching the worst quarterly decline on record, which occurred during the 1974-75 recession, the government reported. But economists said that the decline -- slightly larger than the 8.5 percent estimated by the government a month ago -- did not lessen their optimism, buoyed by an improvement in June, about the future course of the economy. [New York Times] The Shah's last Prime Minister survived an assassination attempt in Paris. Former Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar, one of the principal figures among anti-Khomeini exiles, was having breakfast in his apartment when several gunmen posing as newsmen talked their way past a police guard and fired shots into the door of his apartment. Three gunmen were arrested and identified themselves as Palestinians, the police said. [New York Times] The federal hiring freeze promised by Ronald Reagan at the Republican convention was imposed in part by President Carter in March, administration officials said. The number of full-time federal employees has declined by more than 28,000 since Mr. Carter took office in 1977, his aides said, from 1,913,008 in January of that year to 1,888,558 at the end of May. But they acknowledged that the figures do not include millions of employees working under federal contracts and as consultants. [New York Times] The draft registration was enjoined by a federal court in Philadelphia in ruling that the Selective Service Act was unconstitutional because it excludes women. Thus, the registration, strongly backed by the Carter administration, and which was to begin Monday, will be "entirely voluntary, because the government cannot prosecute those who choose not to register under unconstitutional law," a lawyer for the plaintiffs said. The Justice Department was denied a stay of the permanent injunction and will appeal to the Supreme Court. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan said his campaign was a crusade and told the Republican National Committee at a post-convention meeting in Detroit that the party had to attract millions of Democrats and independents "as miserable and unhappy as we are about the condition of this country." Meanwhile, Bill Brock was re-elected chairman of the committee, and Betty Heitman of Baton Rouge, La., was chosen as co-chairman to succeed Mary Crisp, who resigned. [New York Times] Liberty City in Miami was calm after the rioting that broke out Tuesday, mainly because of heavy rain and a show of police strength. However, 29 persons were arrested overnight. Four hundred National Guardsmen were stationed in nearby armories, and a 9 P.M. to 6 A.M. curfew was in effect for a second day. [New York Times] Cathlyn Wilkerson pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court to the unlawful possession of dynamite that exploded and destroyed her father's house in Greenwich Village, which she and other members of the Weathermen allegedly had been using as a bomb factory. Miss Wilkerson, 35 years old, had been a fugitive since she was seen running from the blast on March 6, 1970, until her surrender on July 8. [New York Times] $11 billion and return of the Black Hills are being sought by the Oglala Sioux in a lawsuit filed against 96 defendants, including the government. The tribe contends that the government "unlawfully and unconstitutionally" took away seven million acres. [New York Times] Bolivian troops moved to crush the remaining resistance to Thursday's military coup and the army commander, Gen. Luis Garcia Meza was installed as the nation's new President. He is a member of three-man junta, which calls itself the Government of National Reconstruction. Lydia Tejada, who had been Bolivia's interim President, was reported under house arrest at the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of La Paz. [New York Times] North Korea made a major concession that could lead to negotiations with South Korea on humanitarian issues such as reunification of families divided by the Korean War. President Kim Il Sung said North Korea would no longer insist that South Korea repeal its tough anti-Communist law as a condition for talks on the reuniting of Korean families. President Kim also told a visiting United States Congressman that North Korea would like to open trade with the South and that cultural exchanges should be arranged between his country and the United States. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 923.98 (+8.88, +0.97%)
S&P Composite: 122.04 (+0.60, +0.49%)
Arms Index: 0.87

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	953	33.25
Declines	578	17.60
Unchanged	369	7.19
Total Volume		58.04

* 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*
July 17, 1980	915.10	121.44	48.87
July 16, 1980	904.44	119.63	49.13
July 15, 1980	901.54	119.30	60.90
July 14, 1980	905.55	120.01	45.48
July 11, 1980	891.13	117.84	38.31
July 10, 1980	885.92	116.95	43.73
July 9, 1980	897.27	117.98	52.00
July 8, 1980	897.35	117.84	45.83
July 7, 1980	898.21	118.29	42.54
July 3, 1980	888.91	117.46	47.23