News stories from Thursday April 13, 1978

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

A reservation restating the United States policy of non-intervention in Panama has been proposed by Democratic leaders for the second Panama Canal treaty, which will be voted on in the Senate on Tuesday. The move, announced by Senator Robert Byrd, the majority leader, is intended to counter the adverse reaction in Panama to a reservation added to the first treaty, guaranteeing the canal's neutrality, which was approved by the Senate on March 16. That reservation, sponsored by Senator Dennis DeConcini, Arizona Democrat, asserts the right of the United States to send troops to Panama to keep the canal open or to eliminate interference with its operations. [New York Times] A silver-painted Cadillac convertible given as a gift to President ldi Amin of Uganda was listed as part of $2.5 million in secret and illegal payments made since 1971 by Page Airways of Rochester, according to a complaint filed by the S.E.C. in Federal District Court in Washington. The S.E.C. charged that Page, which distributes and services executive jet airplanes, also gave improper favors and cash payments to President Albert-Berhard Bongo of Gabon, the Ivory Coast's Ambassador to the United States, Timothee Ahoua, and Diauk Harris bin Mohammed Salleh, Chief Minister of Sabah, a part of Malaysia. [New York Times] American backing for Israel declined over the last six months, but support for the Arabs has not increased, according to the latest quarterly poll by the New York Times/CBS News. Public interest in Middle East developments increased dramatically. [New York Times] J. Wallace LaPrade was removed as chief of the F.B.I.'s New York office, and transferred to Washington where he faces Justice Department charges relating to his role in break-ins without warrants during an investigation in the early 1970's of the Weathermen, a radical antiwar group. He announced his transfer and said that the F.B.I. was still conducting warrantless investigations under authorization from President Carter and Attorney General Griffin Bell. [New York Times] A special investigations office has been established in the Department of Labor to deal with charges of fraud and mismanagement in its multibillion-dollar jobs programs. Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall said that the new office would watch over other programs in the department's $25 billion federal assistance operations, including the federal employee compensation program and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. [New York Times] Stock prices climbed in the year's heaviest trading, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 8.92 points to 775.21. Analysts said the rally was caused by an increase in new car sales, the dollar's improvement in foreign exchange markets and earnings reports that were unexpectedly good. A total of 31.58 million shares was traded on the New York Stock Exchange. [New York Times] The United States International Trade Commission agreed unanimously that carbon steel plate from Japan injures domestic producers. This finding is of major significance in restraining American imports of steel because it will ultimately subject Japanese steelmakers to sharply higher duties on the steel they sell here. [New York Times] Secretary of State Cyrus Vance has received assurances that Rhodesian guerrilla leaders would accept the British-American proposal for a conference of all parties to the Rhodesian struggle as an alternate to war, aides say. Mr. Vance arrived in Tanzania on what American officials called a desperation mission. He was accompanied by Andrew Young, chief United States delegate to the United Nations. But the opposition of Prime Minister Ian Smith and three moderate black leaders to the conference is an obstacle to its success and Mr. Vance was said to have no reason to believe that he could change their minds on this trip. [New York Times] The administration proposes to raise the limit on the number of acres of federally irrigated land a person may own to 960 from 160. Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus told a Senate subcommittee that the administration would honor the intent of the 1902 Reclamation Act to provide cheap, subsidized irrigation water only to family farmers who lived on or near their land. The act's restrictions, which generally have not been enforced for 50 years, do not in all instances provide enough acreage for a modern farming operation, he said. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 775.21 (+8.92, +1.16%)
S&P Composite: 90.98 (+0.87, +0.97%)
Arms Index: 0.52

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,039	22.83
Declines	407	4.66
Unchanged	429	4.09
Total Volume		31.58

* 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*
April 12, 1978	766.29	90.11	26.22
April 11, 1978	770.18	90.25	24.30
April 10, 1978	773.65	90.49	25.74
April 7, 1978	769.58	90.17	25.17
April 6, 1978	763.95	89.79	27.36
April 5, 1978	763.08	89.64	27.26
April 4, 1978	755.37	88.86	20.13
April 3, 1978	751.04	88.46	20.23
March 31, 1978	757.36	89.21	20.13
March 30, 1978	759.62	89.41	20.46