Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 26

oaev Friday's stocks Dow UP 1.56 1,051.78 IOC Saturday, November 6, 1982 Portfolio Chrysler strike to hurt ILLS. Canadian 11 II! I A i. I. IkMbi Asked if the company position did not en TORONTO I A Chrvsler's 10.000 Cana dent that a strike will force thousands of lay From Staff and Wire Reports Money supply resumes trend toward increase than the initial estimate because we have done audits." Five of the US. plants affected are in Detroit The remainder are in Sterling Heights, Warren and Trenton, Twinsburg, Toledo, Van Wert and Sandusky, Ohio; Indianapolis and Kokomo, and Huntsville, Ala.

The union has rejected an offer that included quarterly cost-of-living adjustments, but no "up-front" pay raise. Chrysler workers in the United States rejected an almost identical offer, but decided to reopen negotiations in January rather than strike now. The Canadian workers are demanding that Chrysler begin closing the gap between its See Canadian, page 9C dian workers walked off their jobs Friday, starting a strike likely to idle more than 40,000 U.S. Chrysler workers, perhaps for several months. Some U.S.

layoffs will start Monday. Chrysler's chief negotiator, William J. Fisher, said the strike "will have a swift and perhaps devastating effect on the company, our employees and their families and the communities in which they live and work." But Fisher said the company would not be able to make a new economic offer until after negotiations between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers in the United States. Those talks are not scheduled to begin until sure at least a three-month strike, Fisher said, "It could go longer than that" Robert White, director of the United Auto Workers in Canada, said he hoped the company would "come to its senses" before the strike wears on into next year. "The company knows our position, they need a substantial economic proposal to get a settlement" said White.

The union leader and Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca met privately on Wednesday, but their session produced no final-hour movement in the stalled talks. "It is now Mr. Iacocca's decision as to what he's going to do to settle this strike," White said. Chrysler's operations are so interdepen offs, starting with 2,500 Monday at U.S. plants that supply Canadian production, the company said.

In turn, the Canadian plants make interior trim and other items needed to build cars in the United States, so the entire Chrysler U.S. workforce of 43,000 will face layoffs as supplies dwindle in coming weeks. A company spokesman in Detroit Doug Nicoll, said the initial layoffs would affect 1,000 workers in Michigan, 800 in Ohio, 400 in Indiana and 300 in Alabama. Earlier this week Chrysler Vice Chairman Gerald Greenwald said 6,000 workers would be idled immediately in a Canadian strike, but Nicoll said the actual layoffs "are lower There's only one bear left on Wall Street By MARIA HALK1AS The American Stock Exchange and over-the-counter trading was also up Wednesday. The day before, Election Day, watchers expected the market to be relatively quiet Instead the market started out the day strong and finally closed at a respectable level with the Dow closing at 1022.08 up 16.38 points in a busy trading day with volume climbing to 104,770,000 shares from Monday's 73,530,000 on the New York Stock Exchange.

On Thursday, the market set a volume record. Shares traded totaled 149,350,000 on the New York Stock Exchange and the Dow fell 15.27 points to 1050.22, but market analysts said the Dow drop was insignificant Investors' belief that interest rates will continue to fall was the reason for the wild market activity, analysts said. For the past three weeks, speculation has been that the Federal Reserve Board would lower the discount rate, but so far it hasn't The Fed has CUrioB-Uder fMaca Writer Joe Granville, eat your heart out. Wall Street's setting records and you're on the out-sidelooking in. Granville, the flamboyant market adviser who is still telling his clients to expect a declining market is the only bear hibernating from the market this season.

It may not be fair to take a swing at a man having a bad year, but after all, the stock market most definitely defied his predictions on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average settled at its highest level in history, closing out the day at 1065.49, leaving behind its previous record of 1051.70 set on Jan. 11, 1973. The one-day Dow rise of 43.41 points also was a record. The previous one-day record increase of 38.81 points was set on Aug.

17 as the bull started pawing at the market BUSINESS WEEK IN REVIEW The New York Stock Exchange's Wednesday volume of 137,010,000 shares was the fifth highest on record. The highest volume in history was traded Oct 7 when 147,070,000 shares moved. Advanced issues outnumbered declinersby6-to-l. lowered the rate five times from 12 percent to 9.5 percent since mid-summer. On Friday the discount rate rumors were more specific, speculating that the Fed would lower the interest rate charged to its member banks by 4 p.ra, an hour after the market closed, or that the announcement would be made on Monday.

The Dow edged up 1.56 points to close at 1.051.78 Friday and volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 96.55 million shares. Friday morning was greeted with news of October's post-depression record unemployment rate, but analysts said the announcement didn't affect the stock market because investors were already expecting an increase in the nation's jobless rate. The nation's unemployment rate climbed to 10.4 percent breaking the 10.1 percent post-World War II record set in September. Nearly 300,000 more people joined the unemployment ranks in October, for a total of 11.6 million Americans out of work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of some 60,000 households showed that hardly a segment of the population escaped the gloomy unemployment outlook.

The day before the October national unemployment figure was to be announced, statistics showing the greatest number of jobless workers drawing unemployment benefits was released. The Labor Department said Thursday that more than 4.68 million people were receiving unemployment checks in the week ending Oct 16. The figure was the highest since the unemployment compensation program began in the mid-1930s. And it was evident this week that those who are drawing paychecks instead of unemployment benefits weren't doing much spending as the nation's retailers reported poor October results Thursday. Three of the nation's top four retailers said they posted small sales declines in October.

Sears Roebuck and the biggest retailer, reported a small increase in sales of 3.8 percent to $1,593 billion from $1,535 billion in the same month in 1981. Analysts said the results were even worse than they appeared because the sales figures were compared with weak sales posted in October 1981. Retailers are now looking toward the all-important Christmas season to boost their sales for the year, but a survey in the Wall Street Journal Friday said that more than See Stock, page 9C NEW YORK The nation's money supply rose $2.7 billion in late October, the Federal Reserve Board re- ported Friday, resuming a surge that has lifted it $12.1 -billion in one month. Economists said the unexpectedly large increase in the money supply dampened hopes the Fed would move quickly to foster lower interest rates by cutting its dis--1 count rate, the interest on its loans to banking institu-: Uons. Interest rates rose in credit-market trading follow-; ing the release of the report at 3:10 p.m.

Jackson time and as it became clear the central bank was leaving the discount rate unchanged at 9.5 percent The yield on six-month Treasury bills rose to 8.34 per-, cent from its 8.24 percent shortly before the release of i the report. The price of 30-year Treasury bonds, which moves in the opposite direction of interest rates, fell $7.50 for each $1,000 in face value. The Fed said Ml, a measure of funds readily available for spending, rose to a seasonally adjusted $470.2 billion in the week ended Oct 27, from a revised $467.5 billion a week earlier. Ml has climbed in three of the four weeks since Sept. 29, when it stood at $458.1 billion.

For the latest four weeks, Ml averaged $467.8 billion, a 14.5 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate of gain from 13 weeks ago. That is well above the 5.5 percent upper limit of the annual growth target the Fed has set for Ml for all of this year. First Miss, mix changes J. Kelley Williams, president and chief executive officer of First Missisisppi addressed the issues of a 1 changing business mix and improvements for the Jack- son-based company at the annual stockholders meet-- ing. The company has made progress in diversification, he said, and by the end of fiscal year 1982, fertilizer operations represented only 8 percent of total assets.

Williams said the company has added a second specialty chemical to its program of high-margin specialities produced at its Pascagoula plant In other areas, he said the company's oil and gas subsidiary has plans to drill several test wells on prospects in the next few months. The prospects are located primarily in the Deep South. First Mississippi whose common stock is a diversified resource company with interests in energy, chemicals and fertilizers. In other business, Picayune has replaced Poplarville as a stop on Amtrak's Crescent passenger train, which runs between New York and New Orleans via Atlanta and Washington. Picayune is 24 rail miles south of Poplarville.

Bus Supply Co. Inc. of McComb has received the President's Award for outstanding performance and achievement in the distribution of Thomas Built Buses during 1982. Thomas Built is headquartered in High Point, N.C. Eastover Corp.

of Jackson, a real estate investment trust, announced third quarter profits of $171,000 or 16 cents per share, compared to $1.5 million or $1.26 per share for the same period in 1981. Earnings this year through the the first three quarters are $1.6 million or $2.30 per share. This compares to last year's nine-month earnings of $3.2 million or $2.61 per share. Domestic car and truck production struck a 12-year low in October as the number of U.S. autoworkers on indefinite layoff reached the highest level in seven months, Automotive News reported.

The trade journal said auto production for the month was down 22.1 percent from the same period a year ago. Truck production was down 6.5 percent. Both figures were the lowest production rates since October 1970. Meanwhile, the number of auto workers on furlough without recall dates rose to 251,490, the highest since the April 1 figure of 252,970. Conoco a subsidiary of Du Pont will move its corporate headquarters, from Stamford, Conn, to Wilmington, by July 1, Du Pont officials said.

Du Pont Co. Chairman Edward G. Jefferson said the move to bring Conoco together with Du Pont the nation's 10th largest oil company, will provide "closer coordination of our worldwide businesses and help us realize the full potential of the merger." Du Pont acquired Conoco Aug. 1, 1981 in a $7.8 billion deal, the largest corporate takeover in U.S. history.

-k Gasoline prices have dropped 17 percent from their March 1981 record, after adjusting the figures for inflation, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Figures compiled by the Lundberg Survey indicate motorists are paying an average of about $1.26 a gallon nationally on all grades of gasoline. The 4-month-old gasoline price war has entered a new phase, with major oil companies coming up with strategies to lower retail prices and lure new customers to their stations, the Los Angeles Times reported. Investors continued to put spare cash in money market mutual funds durng the week ended Wednesday even though yields have been steadily dropping and the stock market has been highly bullish. The Investment Company Institute, a Washington-based industry association, said assets in the funds rose $1.3 billion during the week to a record $231.2 billion.

Many investors were believed to be parking money in the funds until December, when banks will be allowed to offer insured accounts that are equivalent to money market funds. Don- oghue's Money Fund Report said average seven-day yields inched down to 8.81 percent from 8.87 percent the week before, and 30-day yields fell to 9.07 percent from 9.23 percent Walt Disney Productions said its fourth-quarter profit fell 25 percent from the same period last year. Company of ficials blamed disappointing performances by "Tron" and other movies. In the three-month period ending Sept 30, Disney profits fell to $28.1 million from $37.7 million a year earlier. Revenue was down 4 percent to $295 million from $308.4 million.

AP Busy trading on the market kept maintenance personnel busy sweeping up trading slips. Study: Average family prof its $600 by stock boom growth in the United States," the study said. In effect it said, the 30 percent increase in the Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks over the past three months has bolstered the worth of the stock held by millions of households and at the same time increased the liquidity of those households' assets. Assets are a combination of financial holdings such as cadi or stocks that can be quickly turned into cash and tangible holdings such as a house, appliances and cars that are not as easy to convert wealth position. The people feel wealthier." He also said the other 70 million or more households that have no common stock holdings still benefit from the market strength through the increased capital activity it generates.

Many of those families, the study said, are also covered by retirement or pension plans with stock holdings. "It would seem that the bull market of 1 9 82 has laid and is laying the foundation for substantial progress in promoting economic WASHINGTON (AP) A congressional study released Friday concludes that the surge in the stock market since August has had the effect of adding about $600 to the wealth of every American household. The Joint Economic Committee study said the rebounding stock market has also indirectly added another $400 in increased household wealth through an improved financial outlook for pension and retirement plans that of ten have large stock holdings. Lowell Gallaway, the committee econo mist who wrote the report called the figures "rough approximations" that provide an idea of the magnitude of the stock market's impact' He also acknowledged that the bulk of the benefits of the stock market boom are being felt by only those households that own common stock, about 30 percent of the nation's total He said most of those households have incomes above the national median. And, Gallaway added, "It's not in the sense of dollars in their pocket It's dollars in their Deficits no cause for alarm, economist says DiillUni A KTTM7TJ LINDA SANDERS By JtV i the recession; and his own government has flip-flopped on tax policy." What the administration originally tried to do but what has been waylaid was to increase American productivity and savings by making it profitable for workers and industry to produce and invest the economist said.

"Although it is hard to believe in 1982, as recently as 1980 workers struck International Harvester for six months," be said. One of the chief causes of the strike was that workers who were in the 40 to 48 percent tax bracket didn't want to be forced to accept overtime work. With their tax brackets, it wasn't worth it to them, he said. By 1980, ordinary income people were being taxed at rates formerly only applicable to the rich, Robert said. For example, the median-income family by 1981 was in the 28 percent tax bracket The economist said this rising tax rate has been detrimental to the economy because it has effectively decreased American savings.

Between 1975 and 1980, the savings rate for the American public and business taken together fell by 2 percent Translated into money that wasn't put into the capital markets, this decrease in savings amounted to between $350 billion and $450 billion not available for investment See Fed's, page SC "The president's program was blown out of the water by the Federal Reserve. Far too much austerity may come out of this." While the term "Reaganomics" has been tossed around to describe policies of cutting taxes and encouraging economic growth, in reality "it is hard to find very much Reaganomics in practice. "It is like sex," the economist said. "Everyone thinks there is more than there really is and that someone else is getting most of it" Beginning his lecture with a background sketch of the economy, Roberts said Reagan came into office after 15 years of American economic decline. "He had two choices.

He could either arrest the decline or pass it on to his successor" For example, during the (barter administration, government spending continued to take an ever-increasing percentage of the gross national product he said. But during the Reagan administration, government spending is still taking a growing share of the GNP. "The main failure of the Reagan admin-stration is the failure to contain this rate of increase" of budget deficit as a share of the GNP. So far the administration has bad little help in articulating what it has been trying to do, Roberts said. "David Stockman has been an embarrassment; Paul Volcker has given him Clarta-Ledfer Batata Writer Excessive concern about budget deficits is an obstacle in the path to recovery, a former assistant secretary of the treasury in the Reagan administration said Thursday night "The deficit is largely the result of what the economy does," said economist Paul Craig Roberts, now a Georgetown University professor, in a lecture at Millsaps College.

A leading supply-side economist in the Reagan administration, Roberts said the idea of balancing the federal budget during a recession was contrary to both liberal and conservative economic theories. "Herbert Hoover was the last president to try to balance the budget during a recession," he said. The basic idea of supply-side economics is that tax rates affect both production and that by reducing taxes, both business and workers can be encouraged to produce and save. While the budget deficits appear large, the current deficit is actually a smaller percentage of the gross national product than the budget deficits of the Carter aitaiinistration, Roberts said. In 1976, the deficit was 4.5 percent of the GNP, he said, and in 1982-83, the deficit is estimated to be in the range of 3.7 percent of the GNP.

At the same time, Roberts said Federal Reserve policies of tight control over the money supply have been "too stringent" in at- rv PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS tempts to control inflation. The Federal Reserve overreacted, he said, and slammed the brakes on the money supply. While the target was to cut the growth rates of the money supply over a five-year period, 75 percent of the cut came during the first year of the Reagan administration, Roberts said..