Panel Proposes Single Agency to Oversee Wall St.

A presidential commission studying the October stock market plunge today recommended the formation of a single federal agency to oversee the nation’s financial markets.

The five-member commission, headed by former Sen. Nicholas F. Brady (R-N.J.), also called for “circuit-breaker mechanisms,” such as price limits and coordinated trading halts “to protect the market system.”

Even in advance of the release of the report, the findings--some details of which had been leaked--had generated criticism on Wall Street, where traders generally suggested that it proposed steps that are too radical.

In a statement issued with the final report, President Reagan called the task force’s work “a significant contribution to our understanding of the events of mid-October.”

Reagan, who named the commission in the aftermath of the 508-point stock plunge Oct. 19, stopped far short of endorsing the recommendations of the panel.

Instead, his statement said, “I intend to carefully review this report, along with the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange studies and the forthcoming studies by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.”