News stories from Friday March 28, 1980

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

A new phase of pressure on Iran following the failure of recent negotiations toward the release of the American hostages in Teheran in the form of economic and political measures is planned by the administration, which will announce them early next week. None of the steps will be military. [New York Times] The North Sea took at least 137 lives when a floating platform in the oil fields off Norway collapsed Thursday night, according to rescue officials. It was suspected that metal fatigue in one of the rig's five legs had caused the collapse. [New York Times] Budget cutbacks of $2.4 billion for 1980 and $15 billion for 1981 have been decided on by the administration's budget officials, who will officially present the proposals Monday at a White House news conference. They said that the reductions would produce a balanced budget in 1981 without using revenues from the new oil import fees and from the proposed withholding of estimated taxes from interest and dividend payments. [New York Times] Mount St. Helens continued to emit steam and ash in the Cascade Range of southwest Washington. Heat deep within the long-dormant volcano melted a snow pack and caused mud slides that threatened reservoirs. No lava flow has been seen, according to the United States Geological Survey, which is monitoring the volcano's first major eruption in 123 years. [New York Times] An economic boycott of Missouri by the National Organization for Women was upheld by a federal appeals court in St. Louis in a 2-to-1 ruling. The organization is seeking a boycott because the state has not approved the proposed equal rights amendment. The court held that the boycott was a symbolic gesture, with no competitive motivation, and thus did not violate the antitrust laws. [New York Times] A possible halt in arrests of illegal aliens while the 1980 census is being taken was under consideration by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The proposal follows a growing protest by Mexican-American and other Hispanic leaders over the arrests of about 800 illegal Mexican workers in the Phoenix area this week just before the start of the census count. Critics accused the service of attempting to scare people of Hispanic descent from responding to the census. [New York Times] Jean Harris pleaded not guilty to a three-count indictment charging that she intended to kill Dr. Herman Tarnower at his home in Purchase, N.Y., on March 10. She remained free on $40,000 bail, and restrictions confining her to Westchester County were extended "to the entire Eastern Seaboard" until Tuesday. [New York Times] Silver prices stabilized, calming the turmoil that struck Wall Street Thursday when plummeting prices threatened the $2 billion silver empire of the Hunt brothers of Dallas, and the financial security of some brokerage firms. Officials of the Commodity Exchange Inc. said that all brokerage houses had met their obligations, in part by the forced sale of the Hunt holdings. [New York Times] Taiwan lifted a fraternization ban on China and permitted 17 Chinese merchant crew members of a Panamanian-registered freighter to disembark and tour Taipei. It was the first time since 1949 that mainlanders were officially permitted to visit Taiwan. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 777.65 (+17.67, +2.33%)
S&P Composite: 100.68 (+2.46, +2.50%)
Arms Index: 0.57

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,401	41.08
Declines	267	4.47
Unchanged	203	1.17
Total Volume		46.72

* 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*
March 27, 1980	759.98	98.22	63.77
March 26, 1980	762.12	98.68	37.35
March 25, 1980	767.83	99.19	43.79
March 24, 1980	765.44	99.28	39.22
March 21, 1980	785.15	102.31	32.22
March 20, 1980	789.08	103.12	32.58
March 19, 1980	800.94	104.31	36.52
March 18, 1980	801.62	104.10	47.34
March 17, 1980	788.65	102.26	37.01
March 14, 1980	811.69	105.43	35.18