News stories from Thursday June 9, 1977

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

An increase in the federal gasoline tax this year was apparently killed when the House Ways and Means Committee voted against it. The committee also rejected proposed rebates to buyers of small cars with high mileage yields, but it approved a modified version of a key element in President Carter's energy program: a sliding-scale "gas-guzzler" tax on big cars, starting with the 1979 models. [New York Times] The White House is apparently prepared to accept a net revenue loss in the tax reform program it will propose to Congress this year. Charles Schultze, the President's chief economic adviser, told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress that the tax proposals were likely to end up with "significant" reductions in rates and "provide sufficient incentives for a high and growing level of business investment." [New York Times] A compromise was reached in the Senate on the touchy automobile pollution issue, and it voted 56 to 38 to delay stricter controls on car fumes, but not to weaken the emission standards permanently. The Senate rejected a proposal favored by the automobile industry and already adopted by the House that would have permitted a longer delay and an indefinite weakening of the controls. [New York Times] A cautious pursuit of orthodox economic policies is the best way to get the major industrial countries back to steady growth and low inflation, according to a group of international economists. They have completed a two-year study of the world economy and inflation that was commissioned by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. [New York Times] Movie stocks stayed up, but the general market went down, bringing with it the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost 3.14 points and finished at 909,85. The movie stocks were led by Twentieth Century-Fox Film, which gained 1 5/8 points to 22 5/8, a yearly high, as more than 500,000 Fox shares changed hands. The stock has climbed nearly 3 points this week, and was ahead more than 8 points in the two previous weeks. [New York Times] Representative Herman Badillo announced that he was a candidate for mayor of New York City. He has run for mayor twice before and is the seventh Democrat to enter the current campaign. He made the announcement with a sharp attack on Mayor Beame's financial talents and an affirmation of law and order. [New York Times] The Polish government is facing a growing human rights movement and widespread discontent over food shortages. "The mood is very angry," a member of the human rights movement told a Western visitor. Basic food prices have been frozen in Poland since 1971 at levels so low that heavy subsidies are required and there are few incentives to increase production. An increase in some basic food prices started riots a year ago and was quickly revoked. [New York Times] The Uganda radio made contradictory announcements of the whereabouts of President Idi Amin. A morning report said that the President was in London, where he was not wanted, but in the evening the radio said that he had returned to Kampala, not from Europe, but from Uganda's southern border where he had consulted with top "revolutionaries" from Zambia and Tanzania. [New York Times] A feeling of helplessness has overcome the waiting relatives of the 51 hostages being held on a train by South Moluccans in the Netherlands. The Dutch Justice Ministry struck fear into some of the people who have kept vigil with the statement that "it's the government's position that this cannot go on any longer." This was not intended as an ultimatum, but some of the relatives said they were afraid it would lead to violent climax. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 909.85 (-3.14, -0.34%)
S&P Composite: 98.14 (-0.06, -0.06%)
Arms Index: 0.81

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	755	10.09
Declines	652	7.09
Unchanged	468	2.22
Total Volume		19.40

* 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*
June 8, 1977	912.99	98.20	22.20
June 7, 1977	908.67	97.73	21.11
June 6, 1977	903.07	97.23	18.93
June 3, 1977	912.23	97.69	20.33
June 2, 1977	903.15	96.74	18.62
June 1, 1977	906.55	96.93	18.32
May 31, 1977	898.66	96.12	17.80
May 27, 1977	898.83	96.27	15.73
May 26, 1977	908.07	97.01	18.62
May 25, 1977	903.24	96.77	20.71