News stories from Wednesday October 1, 1980

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

An Iranian pledge on a key sea route was made as Teheran announced it would do everything in its power to guarantee the freedom of international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The promise was interpreted by Arab and Western diplomats as an effort to deter any outside moves to keep open the route for oil from Persian Gulf nations. Iran also asserted that it had driven back Iraqi troops who occupied key oil regions.Washington sought to reassure Iran by asserting in a message that the dispatch of four Air Force radar command jets to Saudi Arabia was consistent with United States neutrality in the Iran-Iraq conflict, Carter administration officials said. [New York Times] The failure of a peace-seeking mission to Iran and Iraq was implicitly acknowledged at the United Nations by President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan. His report confirmed that Iraq was now willing to halt the fighting but that Iran planned to continue the conflict until it regained the territory it had lost. [New York Times] Broadcasting of videotapes of a trial was approved by a federal Court of Appeals, which ruled that television stations could show such tapes from the first Abscam trial. The unanimous three-judge decision in Manhattan indicated that videotapes in future trials could be broadcast even while a trial was continuing. The court may stay its decision to permit defense lawyers to appeal it to the Supreme Court. [New York Times] A campaign stir over federal judges has arisen, and Ronald Reagan says that as President he would seek nominees whose views were broadly similar to his own rather than making any single issue decisive. Some backers of President Carter have expressed fear that Mr. Reagan would nominate anti-abortion judges. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan's firm views on arms include plans to scrap the proposed treaty on limiting strategic weapons without allowing a Senate vote on it. Mr. Reagan said that as President he would strengthen American military forces to put more pressure on the Soviet Union by raising "the possibility of an arms race" and seek new weapons talks with Moscow. [New York Times] Auto workers cheered President Carter as he toured a Ford plant in Michigan and praised the new, more fuel-efficient American cars. He took his re-election campaign to the region where unemployment is among the highest in the nation and drew a thunderous ovation at a town meeting. Ronald Reagan assured workers in a construction crew in Manhattan that he favored building the Westway, the proposesd highway along the borough's western shore. [New York Times] Business with the President's family was the subject of instructions that President Carter issued to government officials on the eve of the scheduled release of a report by the Senate inquiry on Billy Carter's ties with Libya. The President said there should be a "strong presumption" against granting any contract or license to a member of his family even if the request was "entirely meritorious." [New York Times] John Anderson expressed optimism over obtaining bank loans that he called "absolutely crucial" to his campaign as an independent presidential candidate. Despite a report to the contrary, his lawyers insisted that options drawn up by the staff of the Federal Election Commission would not impede his effort to borrow millions of dollars for television advertising that might be repaid by federal subsidies after the election. [New York Times] A fiscal year began uncertainly with no congressional authorization for finan-ing federal agencies. However, by midday, a House-Senate deadlock over government financing of abortions was broken. It cleared the way for Congress to send to the President a resolution authorizing the agencies to continue to spend money. [New York Times] A major public-works bill became law. As President Carter signed the $12.1 billion measure, which includes appropriations for three dams that he vowed to oppose in 1977, he described it as representing on balance "a constructive compromise among conflicting interests." [New York Times] A bitter split in Britain's Labor Party between the left and right wings led to tumult at a party conference. A series of votes marred by scuffling and shouting left the party with no clear-cut method of choosing a new leader and called into question the party's ability to provide an effective opposition or to govern effectively if it defeated the Conservatives in 1984. [New York Times] Support for a Vatican ban on contra-ceptives was stressed by Archbishop John Quinn, president of the United States conference of Roman Catholic bishops, in a clarifying statement. Parts of a speech he made Monday were widely interpreted as asking the Vatican for new ways to respond with compassion to Catholics who disobey the papal ban. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 939.42 (+7.00, +0.75%)
S&P Composite: 127.13 (+1.67, +1.33%)
Arms Index: 0.85

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	907	28.09
Declines	627	16.55
Unchanged	361	4.08
Total Volume		48.72

* 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 30, 1980	932.42	125.46	40.29
September 29, 1980	921.93	123.54	46.40
September 26, 1980	940.10	126.35	49.43
September 25, 1980	955.97	128.72	49.51
September 24, 1980	964.76	130.37	56.86
September 23, 1980	962.03	129.43	64.39
September 22, 1980	974.57	130.40	53.14
September 19, 1980	963.74	129.25	53.74
September 18, 1980	956.48	128.40	63.39
September 17, 1980	961.26	128.87	63.99