News stories from Tuesday December 11, 1979

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

Economic sanctions against Iran are being weighed increasingly by Washington, a high State Department official said after Secretary of State Cyrus Vance found support in Western Europe. But the official stressed that the administration would not press for any collective action until it had fully assessed the impact of such a move on the safety of American hostages in Iran. [New York Times] Japan may import less oil from Iran if the crisis there worsens, according to Tokyo officials. But they and Japanese newspapers said that Washington did not understand Japan's nearly total dependence on oil imports when it accused Tokyo Monday of undercutting American efforts to free the 50 hostages in Teheran. [New York Times] Criticism of Iran's new constitution was expressed by Ayatollah Kazem Shariat-Madari, who also continued to resist pressure to disavow the uprising in Tabriz. He charged that the Islamic constitution was flawed in giving absolute authority to Ayatollah Khomeini while it also granted "national sovereignty" to the people. [New York Times] Iranian students won a ruling as a federal judge ordered an immediate halt in special immigration checks on the more than 50,000 students in the United States. The judge ruled unconstitutional an order issued by the Attorney General on Nov. 13 for all Iranians with student visas to report to immigration officials by this Friday or face possible deportation. [New York Times] President Carter is leading Senator Edward Kennedy in a survey of Democrats across the nation for the first time in nearly two years, the Gallup Poll reported. The dramatic shift reflected a sharp jump in public approval of the President's performance in the Iranian crisis. [New York Times] John Connally will forgo funds that would be available from the government to match his own funds in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, according to campaign sources. The decision will free the former Governor of Texas and Treasury Secretary from the spending limits imposed by the government on those who accept matching funds. [New York Times] The abortion dispute was extended to the state level by the House, which adopted a provision specifying that states cannot be required to pay for all "medically necessary" abortions. The provision was added to a bill, which was passed by the House, to expand Medicaid care for millions of needy children and pregnant women at a cost of $5.5 billion over five years. Final congressional action on the bill this year now seems doubtful. [New York Times] A major revision of criminal laws has a better prospect for congressional approval than at any time since work on it began more than a decade ago, according to members of Congress and their aides. A committee headed by Senator Edward Kennedy has sent a 395-page bill to the Senate by a vote of 14 to 1 and he has called it his top legislative priority. [New York Times] A satellite has been missing since Monday, when all contact was lost. Officials of the RCA Corporation, the communications satellite's owner and operator. said that all attempts to locate the one-ton Satcom 3 or explain what might have happened to it have been unsuccessful. [New York Times] An explosion at the Soviet Mission to the United Nations injured four police officers and at least two mission employees and shattered hundreds of windows in the block on Manhattan's East Side. A Cuban anti-Castro group took responsibility for the bombing. [New York Times] James Buckley seeks a Senate seat, this time from Connecticut. The former Senator from New York announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to run for the seat being vacated next year by Abraham Ribicoff, a Democrat who is retiring. [New York Times] Terrorists stormed a university in Italy and wounded 10 carefully chosen victims by shooting them in the legs at close range. A left-wing group linked to the Red Brigades claimed responsibility for the assault. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 833.70 (-0.17, -0.02%)
S&P Composite: 107.49 (-0.18, -0.17%)
Arms Index: 0.81

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	687	15.63
Declines	863	15.97
Unchanged	409	4.56
Total Volume		36.16

* 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*
December 10, 1979	833.87	107.67	32.27
December 7, 1979	833.19	107.52	42.38
December 6, 1979	835.07	108.00	37.51
December 5, 1979	828.41	107.25	39.33
December 4, 1979	824.91	106.79	33.53
December 3, 1979	819.62	105.83	29.03
November 30, 1979	822.35	106.16	30.48
November 29, 1979	831.74	106.81	33.56
November 28, 1979	830.46	106.77	39.69
November 27, 1979	825.85	106.38	45.14