October 7, 1981

The assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt unsettled world oil markets and dispelled optimism over prices and supplies that had prevailed for nearly a year. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, more barrels of oil were sold for future delivery than ever before. On the New York Stock Exchange, domestic oil issues jumped upward as nervous investors bet in favor of another international oil crisis. In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the center of the world's spot, or noncontract, oil market, the crude oil trade ground to a halt, as traders waited for signs of a price leap.

The assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt created a new series of problems for future American policy in the Middle East at a time when the Reagan Administration was already worried about the spread of disorder in the region. Administration officials, concerned about the chaos in Lebanon, the increased subversive activity of Libya and the Soviet inroads in Afghanistan, Southern Yemen and Ethiopia, had viewed Mr. Sadat as a solid, pro-American anchor of stability in the Middle East. With his death, there is now apprehension about the situation in Egypt as well. At the White House, President Reagan said the United States had lost ''a close friend'' and ''a champion of peace.'' But the Administration refrained from any public assessment of the possible repercussions of the assassination. (Page A12.)

An article Sept. 10 on the Mediterra- nean fruit fly incorrectly identified the manufacturer of the bait used in ef- forts to poison the flies. It is the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company of Decatur, Ill.

Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan, in his strongest statement to date, said today that the Federal Reserve Board's monetary policy was too tight and that the nation's central bank would have to increase the growth rate of the money supply to avoid prolonging a recession. ''We don't want to prolong this recession, which could happen'' if the Federal Reserve undershoots its money supply targets, Mr. Regan said in an interview on his way to a speech here. He added that money supply growth had been slower than necessary. ''I think we're going to have to insist that they stay on target,'' Mr. Regan added. ''We as an Administration cannot be content to see the economy stay flat quarter after quarter after quarter. We want a growing economy that is producing jobs.''

In the confusion swirling around the assassination of Egypt's President, Anwar el-Sadat, little information was made public in Cairo about the killers. Egyptian authorities were known to have several uniformed men in custody last night, but the Egyptians gave no details about the number or identity of the attackers or the reasons for the attack.