December 1, 1982

HERE is no one for whom it is easier to find a Christmas gift than a cook -with the exception, perhaps, of a small child. Cooks always have long wish lists. If they do not covet the newest in food processors, they yearn for a year-round source of fresh herbs. If they do not seek equipment to make their small kitchens more efficient, they are extolling the virtues of a new kind of vinegar.

Buoyed by heavy buying from pension funds and other large institutions, the Dow Jones industrial average yesterday soared 36.43 points, its fourth-biggest one-day gain in history. At the close, the Dow stood at 1,039.28. Most of the jump in the average came after 2:30 P.M. when it was up 10.03 points. ''Institutional investors, who had recently lessened their participation in the market, came back with renewed vigor today and bought the recently depressed large capitalization stocks,'' said Stephen S. Weisglass, president of Ladenburg & Thalmann & Company.

International President Reagan arrived in Brazil to put his personal endorsement on improved ties between the United States and Latin America's largest country. Brasilia is the first stop on Mr. Reagan's five-day, four-nation Latin American journey. (Page A1, Col. 5.) Moderate policies in Spain were pledged by Felipe Gonzales, who said his new Cabinet would pursue a domestic policy of austerity and would review military ties to the United States and NATO. In a 70-minute address to Parliament, Mr. Gonzalez outlined a posture as cautious as the men he has carefully picked for the first Socialist Cabinet since the Spanish Civil War. (A10:3-4.)

President Reagan conceded he has given up any hope of persuading Congress to advance next July's 10 percent income tax cut. Before leaving on his five-day Latin-American trip, Mr. Reagan listed his priorities for the special session of Congress now under way. He said he still favors moving up the tax cut, but will probably have to work to keep Congress from repealing it. (Page A1.) The index of leading economic indicators rose just 0.2 percent in October, the Commerce Department reported. Earlier, it had incorrectly put the increase at 0.6 percent. Officials said that sharp rises in stock prices and building permits had more than offset declines in liquid assets and orders for new consumer goods. (D1.)

The index of leading economic indicators, which is intended to forecast trends in the economy, rose two-tenths of 1 percent in October, the Commerce Department reported today. The rise in the index, the sixth in the last seven months, was paced by big increases in two of its 10 components - stock prices and building permits. These were more than enough to offset drops in two other components -liquid assets and consumer goods orders. Because of an error in calculation, the department announced earlier in the day that the index had risen a more encouraging sixtenths of 1 percent. The error concerned one component of the index - orders for new consumer goods. The original report said such orders were down slightly in October, but in the corrected version they had declined sharply.