News stories from Tuesday March 14, 1978

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

A coal industry accord was reached by negotiators for the United Mine Workers union and the major operators. Union leaders said they expected that the improved contract proposals would win rank-and-file approval in about 10 days and thus end the 14-week miners' strike. Two previous tentative agreements were rejected, but this accord is expected to win bargaining council approval tomorrow and membership ratification next week. One union official said, "With the new provisions, the contract will fly." [New York Times] Israeli troops invaded Lebanon in large numbers on what the army command said was a mission to "root out the terrorist bases" used for carrying out operations inside Israel. The drive followed the Palestinian guerrilla raid last Saturday in which more than 30 Israeli civilians were killed. In Washington, intelligence sources said that up to 10,000 Israeli troops, plus armor, artillery and planes, had been massing for the strike.The Israeli invasion constituted a "broad military operation," the Palestine Liberation Organization said, adding that Israeli troops had moved into border areas controlled by Lebanese right-wing Christian militiamen. P.L.O. spokesmen said the invasion was directed against villages and bases of the alliance of Palestinian and Lebanese leftists and was supported by ships and by jets bombing several Palestinian strongholds. Artillery fire was also reported all along the border. [New York Times] Earlier Cairo denounced the attack by Palestinian guerrillas in Israel that killed Israeli civilians. President Anwar Sadat broke ranks with the rest of the Arab world and denounced the assault as "irresponsible" and "tragic." The Egyptian leader urged that the "sorrow" over the action be overcome by a new effort to press for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East and reiterated to newsmen that peace was not possible until the future of Palestinians had been resolved. [New York Times] Seventy hostages were freed by 60 Dutch marines who rushed into a besieged government building in Assen and overcame three South Moluccan terrorists after a brief exchange of fire. The charge occurred a half hour after a deadline set by the terrorists for the Dutch government to free Moluccans arrested in previous attacks. The hostages said the terrorists had begun preparations to execute them. One of two legislators being held was seriously wounded, and five hostages suffered slight injuries. [New York Times] Federal investigators were implicated in an influence-peddling scandal. Stephen Elko, a former congressional aide, alleged that the investigators knew about the involvement of Representatives Daniel Flood and Joshua Eilberg in a hospital-funding project several months before the investigators said they knew. Senator Malcolm Wallop said he planned to question John Dowd, a high Justice Department crime official, about the investigation of a Philadelphia hospital. [New York Times] South Africa has stirred students at colleges across the country. Students are organizing protests against the segregationist racial policies of South Africa and the involvement of American companies with that country. Some demonstrations have led to mass arrests but more often they have led to debates between students and boards of trustees over whether colleges should divest their stocks in companies doing business in South Africa. Several colleges have done so. [New York Times] Greater volume of low-cost air fares will soon be available on most major scheduled trans-Atlantic routes, according to predictions by sources close to British and American government negotiators. The sources said that Britain had dropped its opposition to extending discount fares beyond the New York-London route after the United States agreed with the Dutch over the weekend to allow unimpeded competition in airline service. [New York Times] Stock prices posted modest gains in active trading after an announcement of a tentative settlement of the 99-day coal strike. The mid-afternoon news increased buying in late trading, and the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 762.56, up 2.60 points. [New York Times] The Olin Corporation was indicted on charges of illegally conspiring to ship arms to South Africa and of filing 20 fraudulent statements with the government to conceal the destination of the shipments. A Justice Department spokesman said that the 21-count indictment was believed to be the first felony charges made by the government against a company for violating the arms embargo against South Africa that took effect in 1963. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 762.56 (+2.60, +0.34%)
S&P Composite: 89.35 (+0.40, +0.45%)
Arms Index: 0.77

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	800	13.02
Declines	555	7.00
Unchanged	499	4.28
Total Volume		24.30

* 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*
March 13, 1978	759.96	88.95	24.07
March 10, 1978	758.58	88.88	27.09
March 9, 1978	750.00	87.89	21.82
March 8, 1978	750.87	87.84	22.04
March 7, 1978	746.79	87.36	19.90
March 6, 1978	742.72	86.90	17.23
March 3, 1978	747.31	87.45	20.12
March 2, 1978	746.45	87.32	20.29
March 1, 1978	743.33	87.19	21.01
February 28, 1978	742.12	87.04	19.75