News stories from Friday January 8, 1982

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

The jobless rate rose to 8.9 percent of the nation's labor force in December, the highest rate since 9 percent was reached May 1975 when the country was going through the deepest recession since World War II. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 9,462,000 people were out of work last month and that the seasonally adjusted figure was an increase of one-half of a percentage point over November. [New York Times] Talks at Ford and General Motors were approved by the United Automobile Workers' bargaining councils. The negotiations, which would begin next week, could lead to reductions in wages and benefits, possibly in return for job guarantees. [New York Times] The Three Mile Island startup faced further delay as a result of a federal court decision Thursday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could not re-license the facility's Unit 1 until "the psychological health of the neighboring residents and the well being of the surrounding communities" had been assessed. The ruling will probably delay the startup for months and could have an incalculable effect on the whole nuclear energy industry, officials said. [New York Times] A cutoff of welfare for 3,000 families in New York City will take effect next Saturday. The 3,000 are among the 40,000 families in New York who three months ago were temporarily spared the loss or a reduction in welfare because of federal budget cuts. In addition, 13,000 other families will lose their food stamp benefits. [New York Times] A.T.& T. will divest itself of the New York Telephone Company and 21 other local-service operating telephone companies in a settlement of an antitrust suit brought against it seven years ago by the Justice Department. The settlement would require it to sell off $80 billion worth of assets, two-thirds of the company's worth. [New York Times] A rapid increase in telephone rates might follow the government's settlement of the A.T.& T. antitrust suit. Rates might double in certain parts of the country, but long distance charges could decline in the next 18 months. A.T.& T.'s higher long distance rates have subsidized the costs of its lower local service charges. However, as a result of the settlement, local and long distance services will be provided by two separate companies. [New York Times] An antitrust suit against I.B.M. will be dropped, the Justice Department announced. The move had been widely anticipated in view of numerous decisions in favor of the International Business Machines Corporation in antitrust complaints filed by competitors. In addition, recent court decisions in private suits against A.T.& T. and the Eastman Kodak Company had weakened the government's legal position in the I.B.M. case. Another factor in I.B.M.'s favor was the general erosion of its dominance in the computer industry since the case against it was filed almost 13 years ago. [New York Times] High State Department posts were filled by President Reagan with the appointment of two career specialists in European affairs to the second and third ranking positions. Walter Stoessel was named Deputy Secretary of State. He succeeds William P. Clark, the new national security adviser. Lawrence Eagleburger was appointed Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. [New York Times] 17 Poles have been killed since martial law was declared Dec. 13, more than double the number of deaths previously reported by the military rulers. The new official total was included in a comprehensive report on the events in Poland in the last month that was presented to a parliamentary commission. The report said that eight deaths occurred at the Wujek coal mine and nine in Gdansk. [New York Times] Spain will reopen its Gibraltar border April 20, the same day Spain and Britain open talks on the peninsula, which Britain captured in 1704 in the War of the Spanish Succession. Franco closed the border in 1969. The announcement followed a meeting in London between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 866.53 (+4.75, +0.55%)
S&P Composite: 119.55 (+0.62, +0.52%)
Arms Index: 0.89

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	912	23.75
Declines	558	12.96
Unchanged	398	5.34
Total Volume		42.05

* 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*
January 7, 1982	861.78	118.93	43.42
January 6, 1982	861.02	119.18	51.50
January 5, 1982	865.30	120.05	47.50
January 4, 1982	882.52	122.74	36.75
December 31, 1981	875.00	122.55	40.78
December 30, 1981	873.10	122.30	42.96
December 29, 1981	868.25	121.67	35.24
December 28, 1981	870.34	122.27	28.31
December 24, 1981	873.38	122.54	23.94
December 23, 1981	869.67	122.31	42.90