News stories from Friday January 28, 1977

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

A blizzard swept across the already frozen Central states into the East, nearly paralyzing vast areas with winds up to 60 miles an hour. The National Weather Service described conditions in the Central States as "unmerciful." Temperatures were dropping in the New Jersey suburbs, but the weather service said the New York metropolitan area would be spared the worst of the storm. [New York Times] Supplies of natural gas to some homes may be interrupted "in a few weeks, indeed in a few days," James Schlesinger, the federal energy chief, told Congress in urging quick approval of President Carter's energy bill. [New York Times] Freddie Prinze, co-star of the television comedy series "Chico and the Man," was believed near death in Los Angeles from a gunshot wound in the head. The police said that he had shot himself. He was said to have been depressed in recent weeks. The TV comedy series was based on Mr. Prinze's childhood in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York City. [New York Times] The Commerce Department's composite of leading indicators -- one of the government's principal economic barometers -- had its biggest gain last month in a year and a half. The index, measuring the health of 12 key economic sectors to find pointers to future trends, confirmed the accelerating growth that economists had found to be developing late last year. [New York Times] Manufacturers of portable electric heaters have been flooded with orders and say they may soon have difficulties in meeting the demand. McGraw-Edison, a principal manufacturer, said that January orders for heaters were "five times greater than normal." [New York Times] The government said the United States in 1976 had a $5.9 billion trade deficit even though a sharp increase in exports of manufactured goods helped hold the deficit in December to the smallest in six months. [New York Times] Bank stocks declined following a report by Merrill Lynch that downgraded the group, citing "uncertain earnings prospects." There was heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.99 points to 957.53. The Merrill Lynch report took a "neutral" position on a number of banking issues over the next 12 months, compared with the former "buy" or "O.K. to buy." [New York Times] A new trial was ordered for W. A. "Tony" Boyle, a former president of the United Mine Workers of America, who was convicted three years ago of having ordered the murder of a union insurgent, Joseph Yablonski, and his wife and daughter. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld in a 6-to-1 decision Mr. Boyle's appeals lawyer, who maintained that the court had refused to hear crucial defense testimony at the trial. [New York Times] An economic regeneration program for New York City that would sharply reduce taxes, abolish rent control, ease air pollution standards and give tariff protection for local industries has been proposed by business and labor leaders led by David Rockefeller and Harry Van Arsdale. The proposals have been made before, but the significance this time is that they are being made by men of widely disparate interests who have pledged to make the program a reality. They will work through the Mayor's Office of Economic Development. [New York Times] Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet dissident, appealed in a letter to President Carter "to raise your voice" on behalf of persecuted political and religious activists in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He said that despite the Helsinki agreement "the authorities do not wish to make any concessions to the most vital human rights." The letter was delivered to the State Department by Martin Garbus, a New York civil liberties lawyer who had a meeting in Moscow with Mr. Sakharov and other dissidents last week. [New York Times] Three policemen were killed and three wounded in a new outbreak of violence in Madrid. The Spanish government held an emergency cabinet meeting to deal with the rising challenge to its program of political reform and announced the suspension for a month of two constitutional guarantees: Protection against unreasonable searches and the right to be charged with a crime within 72 hours of arrest. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 957.53 (+2.99, +0.31%)
S&P Composite: 101.93 (+0.14, +0.14%)
Arms Index: 0.86

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	669	9.79
Declines	777	9.74
Unchanged	432	3.17
Total Volume		22.70

* 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*
January 27, 1977	954.54	101.79	24.36
January 26, 1977	958.53	102.34	27.84
January 25, 1977	965.92	103.13	26.34
January 24, 1977	963.60	103.25	22.89
January 21, 1977	962.43	103.32	23.93
January 20, 1977	959.03	102.97	26.52
January 19, 1977	968.67	103.85	27.12
January 18, 1977	962.43	103.32	24.38
January 17, 1977	967.25	103.73	21.06
January 14, 1977	972.16	104.01	24.48