News stories from Tuesday October 4, 1977

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

The Senate voted to free the price of newly discovered natural gas from price controls after more than two weeks of debate. The vote, 50-46, was a setback to President Carter's energy program, which seeks continued and even broader controls, though at higher prices. The Senate version must now be reconciled with the House version, which is virtually identical to the President's plan.Defeated Senate Democrats predicted that both President Carter and Senator Robert Byrd, their majority leader, would be hurt by the tactics used to break the filibuster against deregulation of natural gas prices. President Carter's spokesman said there had been a misunderstanding, but Senator Byrd said his concern was to pass the President's program, not to evaluate his own leadership. Most Republicans seemed satisfied at winning the issue, although some expressed mild concern at possible precedents against delaying tactics for the future. [New York Times] Higher Social Security taxes, especially for those now earning more than $16,500 a year, won support from the House Ways and Means Committee. It disposed of several major issues in drafting the overall Social Security financing bill due for approval tomorrow. The wage base would rise by yearly steps from $16,500 to a new high of $27,900 in 1981. [New York Times] Watergate figures had prison sentences reduced by Judge John Sirica, who took note of tape-recorded statements to parole officers in which each of the men involved in the break-in expressed contrition for his acts. John Mitchell, the former Attorney General, and H. R. Haldeman, the former White House chief of staff, will be eligible for parole next June. The parole eligibility of John Ehrlichman, the former domestic aide, is in doubt because he is serving a second sentence levied in a different federal court. [New York Times] A House vote gave labor a victory in an opening skirmish over legislation to strengthen the National Labor Relations Act. By a decisive 267 to 152 margin, it in effect killed a business-backed Republican substitute that would have weakened the proposed revisions and further restricted union organizing. [New York Times] President Carter snubbed the Democratic candidate for Mayor, Edward Koch, during his visit to New York City, out of annoyance at the Manhattan Representative's plan to hand him a letter challenging the administration stand on proposed Middle East peace talks. The President cancelled a plan to speak for the candidate while there and an invitation to Mr. Koch to ride with him from the Wall Street heliport to the United Nations. His press secretary blocked the photographers' view of Mr. Koch handing him the letter. [New York Times] New car sales slumped 6.7 percent in the late September selling period, according to figures from the four big domestic makers, compared with the similar period last year. This was ascribed partly to dealers clearing their lots of remaining 1977 models, but the American Motors Corporation reported a 16.2 percent gain. [New York Times] Stock prices slumped on fears of higher interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 9.88 points to close at 842.08 after three consecutive sessions of advances. [New York Times] A halt in the arms race by all countries was urged by President Carter. He told the United Nations General Assembly that Washington was "willing now" to reduce its nuclear arsenal by as much as 50 percent if Moscow would reciprocate. He said that the United States and the Soviet Union were "within sight of a significant" accord in the present talks on limiting offensive nuclear weapons. Mr. Carter also expressed hope that such an accord would lead to better American-Soviet relations "in other spheres of interest." [New York Times] The capability to destroy satellites has been developed by the Soviet Union, according to Defense Secretary George Brown. He expressed a hope that space could be kept from "becoming an area of active hostilities." Defense officials said satellites in relatively low orbits, which could include some reconnaissance vehicles, were believed to be vulnerable, Mr. Brown said the United States was in the preliminary exploration and design stage in the anti-satellite field. [New York Times] President Carter met after his U.N. speech first with Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ismail Fahmy, then with Israel's, Moshe Dayan, in his effort to clear the way for a Middle East peace conference this year. Mr. Dayan disclosed that after a 70-minute meeting, it was agreed to meet for another session. He gave no hint of its import. [New York Times] Indira Gandhi was released from police custody by a New Delhi magistrate less than 24 hours after the former Prime Minister of India was arrested on two charges of political corruption. The magistrate's order, on the technical grounds of an insufficient preliminary case against her, was an implicit rebuke to the government, which immediately filed a petition challenging the order. Mrs. Gandhi called her brief detention "a political arrest." [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 842.08 (-9.88, -1.16%)
S&P Composite: 96.03 (-0.71, -0.73%)
Arms Index: 1.59

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	603	5.60
Declines	796	11.76
Unchanged	484	3.49
Total Volume		20.85

* 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*
October 3, 1977	851.96	96.74	19.46
September 30, 1977	847.11	96.53	21.17
September 29, 1977	840.09	95.85	21.16
September 28, 1977	834.72	95.31	17.96
September 27, 1977	835.85	95.24	19.08
September 26, 1977	841.65	95.38	18.23
September 23, 1977	839.14	95.04	18.76
September 22, 1977	839.14	95.09	16.66
September 21, 1977	840.96	95.10	22.20
September 20, 1977	851.78	95.89	19.03