News stories from Thursday March 10, 1977

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

The public responded vehemently against the Food and Drug Administration's announcement Wednesday that it would ban saccharin, which the agency said is believed to be a cancer-causing agent. "All day long we've been taking calls from people, some of them in tears, demanding that we leave saccharin alone," an F.D.A. official said. Complaints also came from corporations that use saccharin in their products, the diet food industry and organizations representing diabetics who use saccharin.Some manufacturers stopped production of saccharin-based products and turned to other substitute sweeteners. The Sherwin-Williams Company said it would close at least temporarily its saccharin plant outside Cincinnati, the largest in the world. Soft-drink manufacturers, major users of saccharin, said they were not halting production or marketing of saccharin-based drinks, but that substitutes were being readied, probably sugar derivatives. The Food and Drug Administration will consider classifying saccharin as a drug, instead of a food additive, to enable doctors to prescribe it for patients with diabetes and overweight disorders. [New York Times] Acquaintances and neighbors of Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, the leader of a youthful group of Hanafi Moslems, say that he seemed to become unstable after four members of his family were murdered in 1973. For more than 24 hours, his voice bellowed orders and complaints from the eighth floor of the B'nai B'rith Building in Washington. At times the voice was reasonable; other times it was belligerent, and frequently it was illogical and incomprehensible.More than 100 hostages held for nearly two days by a handful of armed Hanafi Moslem gunmen were released unharmed and the gunmen were arrested. Mayor Walter Washington, in an emotional news conference, said the gunmen had given themselves up. The end of the siege was negotiated by the Ambassadors of Iran, Egypt and Pakistan. [New York Times] The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $4 billion public works bill after agreeing on an aid formula far more generous to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut than was the House bill. The vote was 74 to 11, with most of the opposition coming from hard-line conservatives. "It was a fairly clear statement that the unemployment problems of the Northeast are national problems," said Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, who took a crucial part in working out the Senate bill. [New York Times] Higher food and fuel prices in a period of unusually cold weather were responsible in February for the biggest increase -- 0.9 percent -- in wholesale prices in 16 months, the Labor Department said. But the increase in wholesale prices, which are often a forerunner of higher retail prices, does not mean that another severe round of inflation is ahead, according to John Kendrick, the Commerce Department's chief economist. "I think we will get down to much lower rates by spring," he said. [New York Times] Stock prices, initially depressed by a government report of an increase in wholesale prices, rallied late in the session, led by International Business Machines and sugar-related issues. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 3.83 points to 946.73. [New York Times] Legislation permitting commercial banks to pay interest on checking accounts, but only to individuals, was urged on Congress by Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Congress would have to repeal the 1933 Banking Act's provision banning such interest, which is generally opposed by banks but favored by consumer groups. [New York Times] Four top officials of the Amrep Corporation, a land developer in New Mexico, received prison sentences in Federal District Court in Manhattan of six months each for fraudulent sales practices. Amrep, a New York concern, is the developer of a community called Rio Rancho Estates. The executives are Howard Friedman; his brother, Daniel; Chester Carity and Henry Hoffman. Their lawyers said they would appeal the conviction. [New York Times] Carter administration officials took steps to assure Israel and the Arab countries on President Carter's new Middle East proposals. Mr. Carter took positions at his press conference Wednesday that have been publicly opposed for different reasons by Israel and the Arab states. There was concern among some Middle East experts that instead of furthering the process toward peace, the President's comments could have caused a setback. Thus, the officials attempted to convince both sides that American evenhandedness in the negotiations had not ended. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 946.73 (+3.83, +0.41%)
S&P Composite: 100.67 (+0.57, +0.57%)
Arms Index: 0.65

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	822	10.96
Declines	566	4.90
Unchanged	488	2.76
Total Volume		18.62

* 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 9, 1977	942.90	100.10	19.68
March 8, 1977	952.04	100.87	19.52
March 7, 1977	955.12	101.25	17.41
March 4, 1977	953.46	101.20	18.95
March 3, 1977	948.64	100.88	17.56
March 2, 1977	942.07	100.39	18.01
March 1, 1977	944.73	100.66	19.48
February 28, 1977	936.42	99.82	16.22
February 25, 1977	933.43	99.48	17.61
February 24, 1977	932.60	99.60	19.73