News stories from Friday February 24, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A tentative coal strike settlement was announced by President Carter, The President's statement, however, reflected official concern as to whether the United Mine Workers would accept the terms, The union's bargaining council was not consulted in the negotiations that led to the President's announcement. It had been announced earlier in the day that Mr. Carter would go on television to announce the "drastic steps" that had been contemplated by the administration to end the strike. [New York Times]
- The conversion of coal into a liquid fuel and to a form of natural gas is one of several possible new energy sources being considered by the Department of Energy to help reduce the nation's dependence on oil. A team of planners has been instructed to produce by April 1 an "immediate action memorandum" outlining some different energy choices, particularly those attainable by 1990. [New York Times]
- Stocks rallied on the prospects of a coal strike settlement. Gains outnumbered declines by a ratio of about 5 to 2 with oil, gas, computer and oilfield service issues leading. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.29 points to 756.24 -- its best showing, except for a token rise Thursday, following nine consecutive declines that culminated Wednesday in a 34-month low. [New York Times]
- Tennessee's Clinch River nuclear breeder reactor project is still alive despite President Carter's veto of it a year ago in keeping with his pledge to cut the worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons. The project's supporters managed this week to have $80 million included in a House catch-all appropriations bill to keep it going. Mr. Carter had requested $33 million to bring the project to an end. [New York Times]
- Footprints 3.5 million years old have been identified by a British anthropologist as perhaps the oldest made by man's ancestor. The tracks were in the bottom of a watering hole in Tanzania. Dr. Mary Leakey told a news conference at the National Geographic Society, which has supported her research, that she was "75 percent sure" that the prints were that of a hominid. If her surmise is confirmed, the discovery will push back by more than three million years the oldest human-like footprint. [New York Times]
- Government sources said that Bell Helicopter, subsidiary of Textron Inc., made a $300,000 payment in connection with an aircraft sale to Africair Inc., a company that had extensive business dealings with the C.I.A. The payment is another area of inquiry being pursued by the Senate Banking Committee in its confirmation hearings on President Carter's nomination of G. William Miller, Textron's chairman, to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Records of Textron's auditors have been subpoenaed by the committee and the S.E.C. [New York Times]
- The administration will not sell Israel 90 advanced warplanes if Congress blocks the sale of American fighter planes to Egypt or Saudi Arabia, according to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. He told the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations that the proposed sales "are a package and will be dealt with as a package." [New York Times]
- A Soviet general is leading some of Ethiopia's troops against the Somalian forces in the Ogaden region, President Carter's national security adviser said at a news briefing at the White House. Zbigniew Brzezinski also said that 10,000 to 11,000 Cuban officers and soldiers are now in Ethiopia, organized into infantry brigades and a mechanized brigade. That number is more than double a recent administration estimate. [New York Times]
- China convened the united-front organization that proclaimed the establishment of Communist China in 1949 and was its first parliament. The first meeting since 1964 of the Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference reflected Peking's new stress on unity and seemed to be an effort to rally groups outside the Communist Party, such as intellectuals, minority groups, and Chinese living abroad. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 756.24 (+5.29, +0.70%)
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 23, 1978 | 750.95 | 87.64 | 18.73 |
| February 22, 1978 | 749.05 | 87.56 | 18.45 |
| February 21, 1978 | 749.31 | 87.59 | 21.86 |
| February 17, 1978 | 752.69 | 87.96 | 18.50 |
| February 16, 1978 | 753.29 | 88.08 | 21.58 |
| February 15, 1978 | 761.69 | 88.83 | 20.17 |
| February 14, 1978 | 765.16 | 89.04 | 20.47 |
| February 13, 1978 | 774.43 | 89.86 | 16.81 |
| February 10, 1978 | 775.99 | 90.08 | 19.48 |
| February 9, 1978 | 777.81 | 90.30 | 17.94 |