News stories from Wednesday May 25, 1977

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Crown Prince Fahd has assured President Carter that there will be no oil embargo against the United States to press for concessions from Israel. Mr. Carter said there was no such threat after the Saudi leader had ended his two-day talks at the White House. The President added that they found no disturbing differences, but that the Israeli election had created much uncertainty about future diplomatic efforts for Middle East peace. [New York Times] The House dismayed environmentalists by voting to permit some pollution in national parks and other areas where the air is now above the clean-air standard. But it rejected another amendment that would have delayed anti-pollution efforts in areas where the air is already dirty. Debate was lively and sometimes angry and lobbying was heavy as the vote on the most controversial amendment -- for weaker standards and a later deadline on automobile emissions -- drew nearer. [New York Times] The revised welfare system the Carter administration plans to propose to Congress would require hundreds of thousands of persons now on relief to accept jobs or lose much of their public assistance. In this category would be unmarried mothers of teenage children. But the federal government would contribute more than it does to single-parent families in which the children are younger. [New York Times] Former President Nixon found his life "almost unbearable" after resigning in disgrace, he said in the fourth of a series of televised interviews. He professed regret that he was unable to clear his name "through the agony of a trial." [New York Times] Citing reports of a North Korean build-up, Gen. John Singlaub, removed by President Carter for publicly predicting that withdrawal from South Korea of American ground forces would bring war, reiterated that view to a subcommittee if the House Armed Services Committee and said most Americans in Korea agreed. [New York Times] Stock prices fell for the fifth straight session, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 9.16 points to 903.24, reflecting weaknesses in blue-chip stocks, Most losses were measured in fractions and the atmosphere in many brokerage offices suggested apathy rather than terror. [New York Times] A worldwide fair trade policy for steel was urged on all governments of producing nations by Edgar Speer, chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. He said arguments of better technology and lower costs overseas were no longer valid explanations for the high volume of imported steel sold at very low prices. [New York Times] An early-morning fire gutted a Manhattan bathhouse catering to male homosexuals. Nine men were killed and 10 Injured as scores fled the blaze. The New York City fire commissioner said the sprinkler system ordered installed by July would probably have prevented the fire. Mayor Beame ordered an investigation to determine why a bathhouse had overnight guests in apparent violation of its operating permit. [New York Times] Reports that Ethiopia has received about 50 Cuban military advisers since gaining Soviet backing, with perhaps a larger number of troops to follow, have been received by the State Department in Washington. A spokesman said the United States would carefully consider requests from neighboring Sudan for American military equipment to counter a perceived threat from Ethiopia. [New York Times] Moshe Dayan, the former Defense Minister elected on the Labor Party slate in Israel's recent election, agreed in principle to serve as Foreign Minister in a coalition government headed by Menachem Begin, who leads the right-wing Likud bloc. [New York Times] South Moluccans holding hostages in the Netherlands backed off from a threat to start killing them as the government refused to honor the deadline the armed band had set. The government said the group showed a slightly more flexible line in telephone conversations with two psychiatrists representing it. The government insists on release of children and their teachers taken hostage before negotiating on their other demands. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 903.24 (-9.16, -1.00%)
S&P Composite: 96.77 (-0.90, -0.92%)
Arms Index: 1.91

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	411	3.08
Declines	1,073	15.32
Unchanged	431	2.31
Total Volume		20.71

* in millions of shares

Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish.

Market Index Trends
Date	DJIA	S&P	Volume*
May 24, 1977	912.40	97.67	20.05
May 23, 1977	917.06	98.15	18.29
May 20, 1977	930.46	99.45	18.95
May 19, 1977	936.48	99.88	21.28
May 18, 1977	941.91	100.30	27.80
May 17, 1977	936.48	99.77	22.29
May 16, 1977	932.50	99.47	21.17
May 13, 1977	928.34	99.03	19.78
May 12, 1977	925.54	98.73	21.98
May 11, 1977	926.90	98.78	18.98