What was going on when I was born?

The Federal Reserve Board today approved a proposal by J.P. Morgan & Company to trade in financial futures. The action allows the Morgan Futures Corporation, a subsidiary of the bank holding company, to act as a futures commission merchant - in effect, a broker - in futures contracts for bullion, foreign exchange and United States Government securities. Earlier this year, the comptroller gave similar approval to the North Carolina National Bank in Charlotte. Banks for some time have traded in what are known as forward contracts, which are very similar to futures contracts. In a forward contract, the purchaser actually buys a commodity, while in a futures transaction, delivery does not have to be taken.

The negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the Lebanon crisis are mired in the no man's land between failure and success. Many people here wonder whether an agreement can ever be worked out. For a week the Palestine Liberation Organization has been engaged in a confusing muddle of negotiations with the Lebanese Government - and through it with the United States and Israel - about the P.L.O.'s future, if any, in Lebanon. A Continued Presence At first, would-be mediators and countless unnamed sources suggested that the P.L.O. was ready to pack up its arms and take a Saudi jetliner, Soviet steamship or Red Cross bus to a more hospitable Arab capital. All that was supposedly needed was a formula to allow the P.L.O. to execute the move with its pride intact.

The Senate Finance Committee early this morning approved a $21 billion revenue-raising bill, supported by the Reagan Administration, that would increase consumer taxes on cigarettes and telephone service and restrict deductions for medical expenses and casualty losses. Dividing along party lines, the committee voted 11 to 9 for the bill, with the ''no'' votes coming from the Democrats. The bill, if enacted as it now reads, would impose a 10 percent withholding tax on dividend and interest payments. It would also make it easier for investors to qualify for the lower long-term capital gains tax rate by making the holding period for eligibility six months, rather than the current 12.

The Procter & Gamble Company is not doing business with the Devil, and wants to tell everybody so. The giant consumer products company filed libel suits yesterday in Atlanta and in Pensacola, Fla., against three individuals whom it accused of spreading ''false and malicious'' rumors that Procter & Gamble and its executives are involved in Satanism and Devil worship. In a press release, the company, which has been plagued increasingly with such rumors, said that it was investigating whether to file additional lawsuits and that it would aggressively pursue leads to organizations or individuals spreading the rumors. ''The high number of calls and the use of the reproduced handout materials suggest this is more than rumor-mongering by individuals,'' the company said.

There were 101 fewer traffic deaths in New York City in the first six months of this year than in the same period in 1981, a 27.5 percent reduction. The police say the reduction was attributable, at least in part, to special safety enforcement since last Aug. 11. The program expired Wednesday night with the start of a new budget year. ''It has been very rewarding,'' Deputy Inspector Joseph Schutta, who was in charge as commander of the Highway District, said yesterday.

New construction spending in May rose a strong 1.3 percent, marking the third consecutive monthly gain, the Commerce Department reported today. ''Despite high interest rates, construction activity in May made its best showing this year,'' Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige said, The increase was much stronger than the gains in the previous two months, according to the new report. In April construction spending rose seven-tenths of 1 percent, revised from the six-tenths of 1 percent decline originally reported. The March rise was nine-tenths of 1 percent.

A picture accompanying the theater review of the Grand Kabuki yesterday was incorrectly captioned. It showed Fukusuke.

THE Kool Jazz Festival is turning its attention to women this weekend. Ella Fitzgerald, as befits her position as the grande dame of vocal jazz, leads the way tonight in two shows in Carnegie Hall at 7 and 10 P.M., when she will join in what has become over the years a classic pairing with the Count Basie orchestra. The cleanup female swinger will be Anita O'Day, who will be part of a tribute to Stan Kenton on Sunday, the last day of the festival, at Avery Fisher Hall at 8 P.M. And tomorrow, along with an appearance by Tania Maria, the Brazilian singer and pianist, at Carnegie Hall at 5 P.M., women will move in en masse, not just as singers, but as songwriters, in a program at Avery Fisher Hall at 8 P.M. called ''This Time the Ladies,'' which has been produced by Sylvia Syms, who will also sing in it. ''This is not a feminist thing,'' Miss Syms said of her program the other day. ''It is not even a statement. It's just recognition of a fact that has to be recognized.''

Whatever the outcome of the siege of west Beirut, it is becoming apparent that Israeli troops are going to have to remain in Lebanon for some time to guarantee the political achievements of their invasion. In Washington and Jerusalem, there is much talk of the need for a strong and stable Lebanese Government to extend its control over the country once the Palestinians have been disarmed or destroyed as a fighting force. But seven years of civil war, sharpened by outside Arab and Israeli involvement, have left the Lebanese Government, and its army and police, in ruins. No Abrupt Withdrawal Prime Minister Menachem Begin and other Israeli officials insist that they have no designs on Lebanese territory, and Israeli military men say they hope their soldiers can be home soon.

For the 2,075 couples married by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon yesterday, the service at Madison Square Garden was a step toward perfecting the world by creating ''true parents'' whose total loyalty to God is the foundation of a new society. ''The family is the core and the heart of a God-centered world,'' Dr. Mose Durst, United States president of Mr. Moon's Unification Church, said before the mass wedding ceremony. But exactly how the church creates its families is bewildering to outsiders, and even church members who have let themselves be matched with their mates by the Korean evangelist are sometimes hardpressed to explain the process. The key is the church members' understanding of marriage as part of their churchly mission and their confidence in Mr. Moon's description of their bond as a means of purifying the world. For the couples taking part in yesterday's wedding, the controversy surrounding the Korean-born evangelist and his church has not shaken that confidence. They even allowed him to pick their mates.

The company's office doesn't look like much, just a onestory brick structure with a series of hastily built extensions tumbling out the back. Inside, Zoltan J. Kiss, a one-time professional soccer player whose preceding business venture ended in a bankruptcy filing, munches on a sandwich at his desk while explaining how his six-year-old company lost about $1 a share in the past year. Despite its losses, Mr. Kiss and his company are driven by the conviction that their field of sun-powered electricity is now capable of broad commercial use, although it is generally thought that such applications are decades away. And Mr. Kiss is also convinced that his Chronar Corporation may beat even the mighty Japanese to the punch. Mr. Kiss is president of Chronar, which has 45 employees.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher criticized the United States today for trying to limit the ability of foreign companies to fulfill contracts for a 3,700-mile natural gas pipeline from Siberia to Western Europe. ''The question is whether one very powerful nation can prevent existing contracts being fulfilled; I think it is wrong to do that,'' Mrs. Thatcher told the House of Commons. She also indicated that Washington should consider the commercial impact of the ban, saying: ''I think it is harmful ultimately to American interests because so many people will say there is no point in making a contract to secure materials, machinery and equipment from the U.S. if at any time they can just cancel that contract.'' Rebuke Comes as a Surprise The Prime Minister's rebuke was surprising, especially in view of her staunchly anti-Soviet positions, which have made her one of President Reagan's closest ideological allies. It came a day after the Board of Trade here acted to protect British interests by warning the Reagan Administration that British companies might be forbidden to comply with the embargo. Under the terms of Wednesday's order, United States subsidiaries would have to comply with British rather than American law.