April 25, 1983

A reviving economy, lower interest rates and drastically pared operating costs are beginning to have a healthy impact on corporate profitability. All the results for the first quarter are not yet in. Major retailers and the oil companies, which account for about one-third of corporate profits, have not begun to report, for example. But earnings reports released thus far have led economists and other analysts to project that after-tax profits in the first quarter are likely to register the first year-to-year increase since the second quarter of 1981.

After President Reagan pulled Paul A. Volcker aside last Wednesday to apologize for news stories suggesting that he would be let go as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, two things became apparent to aides and economists close to the President. First, according to one official, was that the President - as he told Mr. Volcker - genuinely has not made up his mind about whether to replace the Fed chairman when his four-year term expires Aug. 6. And second was that Mr. Volcker, if asked to continue on the job, would likely accept. These days, when it comes to Mr. Reagan's intentions toward the Fed, speculation and sifting of clues like last week's exchange with Mr. Volcker - which occurred after a meeting of the President's Economic Policy Advisory Board - are about all there is to go on.

International Austria's Socialist Party lost its clear majority in Parliament in national elections, and Chancellor Bruno Kreisky announced that he had decided to resign after 13 years in office. His party lost 5 seats, from 95 to 90, in the 183-seat Parliament, depriving it of the clear majority it had held since 1971. Nevertheless, the Socialists, who received 47.8 percent of the vote, remain a commanding force in Parliament. (Page A1, Column 6.) Soviet and American weapons were in the cargo carried by one of four Libyan planes that landed in Brazil last week, a Brazilian spokesman said. The planes, which were originally said to have been carrying medical supplies for Nicaragua, were detained after it was discovered that they were carrying military supplies as well. (A1:4.)

Chancellor Bruno Kreisky's Socialist Party lost its clear majority in Parliament in national elections today, and the Chancellor said tonight that he had decided to resign. Mr. Kreisky has governed Austria and dominated its public life for 13 years, longer than any other current head of government has been in power in the West. His announcement came after election results showed that his party had lost 5 seats, from 95 to 90, in the 183-seat Parliament, depriving it of the clear parliamentary majority it had held since 1971. Despite their reversal, the Socialists, who took 47.8 percent of the popular vote, remain the commanding force in Parliament. With 43.2 percent of the vote, the centrist People's Party increased its share by 4 seats, to 81.

An article in Business Day April 13 about insider trading in stock options misstated the title and provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 16(a) requires officers, directors and principal shareholders of publicly held corporations to disclose their trading in their company's shares. Section 16(b) requires that if they profit by buying and selling the shares within a six-month period, they turn over such ''short swing'' profits to the company.