News stories from Tuesday February 26, 1980

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

Progress for the release of hostages being held in the American Embassy in Iran is being made despite some disappointing public statements recently made by Iranian officials, according to high United Nations officials. The informants asserted that the apparent new difficulties involve polemics designed to mollify Iran's political factions and should not be taken as basic policy positions.Iran will admit some U.S. reporters after having banned all of them since mid-January. The governing Revolutionary Council gave no reason for the shift in policy. [New York Times] Mass arrests of Afghans were reported from Kabul as the authorities there sought to end strikes by shopkeepers and civil servants protesting the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan. Many Shiite Moslems accused of having instigated the anti-Soviet protests were taken into custody, according to a report quoting reliable Afghan sources. [New York Times] Egyptian and Israeli envoys took up duties in each other's countries. At a ceremony in Cairo, Ambassador Eliahu Ben-Elissar of Israel paid tribute to President Sadat for his courage and vision in starting the process that produced the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.In Jerusalem, Ambassador Saad Mortada pledged to President Yitzhak Navon that he would spare no effort to solve any future problems in pursuing efforts to achieve "fully normal relations." [New York Times] Gasoline prices of $1.50 a gallon and home heating oil costing $1.15 a gallon by the end of 1980 are predicted by officials of the Energy Department. In a detailed analysis, they also forecast ample fuel supplies as the sharply higher prices reduce both consumption and imports of crude oil.Saudi Arabia will reduce oil production by one million barrels a day this year, according to a senior Saudi government official. He also disclosed that the Saudis had agreed to a Soviet request to send military planes over the country to Southern Yemen. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan won a sizable victory over George Bush in the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire while President Carter defeated Senator Edward Kennedy in the Democratic primary. Mr. Kennedy came closer to Mr. Carter than most recent polls had indicated, but the President's margin in a state that his challenger had once expected to sweep was comfortable.Ronald Reagan bowed to conservatives as he dismissed John Sears, his presidential campaign manager. Sources in the Reagan campaign said some of Mr. Reagan's conservative supporters had blamed Mr. Sears for a cautious strategy that had limited the candidate's public appearances and sought to make him appear more a candidate of the center than of the right, and that their views had finally led to the ouster of Mr. Sears. [New York Times] A rebuff to military registration plans developed as a House subcommittee expressed reluctance to approve funds to carry out President Carter's proposal to sign up men. It also became increasingly clear that the House would reject the President's proposal to register women. [New York Times] A nuclear power reactor shut down automatically after a valve ruptured and thousands of gatlons of radioactive water spilled onto the floor of the containment building. Officials said no radiation was released outside the plant, which is situated in a lightly populated area 70 miles north of Tampa, Fla. [New York Times] Daniel Flood pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy and was placed on probation for a year. The former Representative's first trial on charges of trading influence for more than $50,000 in bribes from businessmen ended in a hung jury a year ago and a retrial had been postponed four times. The long-influential Pennsylvania Democrat, 76 years old, resigned from the House on Jan. 31. [New York Times] Harrison Williams is linked with other main figures in the federal undercover investigation into possible political corruption, according to new reports by law enforcement officials. Securities that federal agents allegedly used to bribe Senator Williams, Democrat of New Jersey, were issued by three companies set up only last year by a close associate of his, sources involved in the inquiry said. [New York Times] A plan to control toxic wastes, which are now virtually unregulated, was announced by the Environmental Protection Agency. Under the new rules, all businesses that deal with hazardous chemical wastes would be required to provide inventories of such substances so they can be tracked through the entire production, transportation and disposal processes. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 864.25 (+4.44, +0.52%)
S&P Composite: 113.98 (+0.65, +0.57%)
Arms Index: 0.58

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	654	20.20
Declines	822	14.80
Unchanged	404	5.00
Total Volume		40.00

* 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*
February 25, 1980	859.81	113.33	39.14
February 22, 1980	868.77	115.04	48.21
February 21, 1980	868.52	115.28	51.54
February 20, 1980	886.86	116.47	44.34
February 19, 1980	876.02	114.60	39.48
February 15, 1980	884.98	115.41	46.67
February 14, 1980	893.77	116.72	50.55
February 13, 1980	903.84	118.44	65.22
February 12, 1980	898.98	117.90	48.08
February 11, 1980	889.59	117.12	58.66