News stories from Thursday March 17, 1977

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

The $50 tax rebate, the keystone of the administration's economic stimulus program, was in effect approved by the Senate Finance Committee when it narrowly rejected two Republican amendments offering permanent tax cuts instead. A proposal by Senator William Roth of Delaware was turned back by 9 to 8. Another by Senator John Danforth of Missouri that would cut taxes to 14 percent on the first $18,000 of income failed 10 to 8. The tax bill is expected to reach the Senate floor later this month. The House has passed the rebate. [New York Times] President Carter both before and after his election said he intended to consider the cost of a new government agency regulation before putting it into effect. So, the administration's top economic policy team has agreed to establish an elaborate new review system aimed at forcing agencies such as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the Environmental Protection Agency to project the costs of major regulations before they are issued. The proposal is opposed by some top federal officials. [New York Times] Employment quotas can and do work in reversing patterns of job discrimination, Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, said in an interview. He said that his experience in the practice of law and in recruiting policy makers for his department indicated that it was possible and necessary to endorse preferential hirings for jobs and admissions policies in higher education. [New York Times] The aggregate income of Americans was at a record high last month and the figures helped reinforce other government statistics indicating that the economy appears to be recovering strongly from its mid-winter troubles. The Commerce Department said personal income grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of $17.1 billion, or 1.2 percent, to an annual rate of $1,458 billion. [New York Times] Stock prices declined slightly after five days of gains and the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 3.16 points to 964.84. It had gained nearly 25 points during the week. Only five of the Dow's 30 components showed increases, and they were all measured in fractions. [New York Times] Mayor Beame ordered New York City officials to take four major sports organizations to court to prevent the Jets from playing their first two home games this season in the Giants Stadium in the Hackensack Meadowlands in New Jersey. [New York Times] Hundreds of congratulatory letters, telephone calls and telegraphs have been received by the three Moslem ambassadors who negotiated the release of the 134 hostages, mostly Jewish, who were held by the Hanafi Moslem gunmen in Washington last week. Many of the messages have come from Jewish organizations or from persons identifying themselves as Jewish. Many of the messages have gone to Ashraf Ghorbal, the Egyptian ambassador, the only Arab of the three men. [New York Times] President Carter, in the General Assembly of the United Nations, asserted that the organization had allowed "its human rights machinery to be ignored and sometimes politicized." He said: "There is much that can be done to strengthen it," and suggested that the United Nations Commission on Human rights meet more often and that it move from Geneva to New York. The President touched on a number of other subjects in his speech, which was also intended to emphasize his administration's support for the United Nations. [New York Times] Zaire's major copper mining center of Kolwezi was captured by rebel forces from Angola, according to informed sources in Kinshasa who said the troops met little opposition from Zaire's soldiers and were welcomed as liberators by the local population. However, the Zairian press agency denied the town had yet been taken. The invading forces, who were reported to have taken the trading center of Sandoa, were believed to be veterans of the former Katanga secessionist army. [New York Times] Tens of thousands of mourners attended burial rites for Kamal Jumblat, the slain leftist Moslem leader in Lebanon. There were increasing reports of revenge killings, and his followers brought the Moslem half of Beirut to a halt with a general strike. [New York Times] Under threat of dismissal from their employer, striking toolworkers at British Leyland, Britain's largest auto manufacturer, voted to return to work. The company was expected to resume operations Monday. The toolworkers had sought a pay differential that would distinguish them from non-skilled workers and they wanted separate negotiating rights. The dismissal threat that ended the futile strike had the full backing of the government, which owns virtually all of Leyland's stock, and the major unions whose leaders have supported the government's wage-curb program. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 964.84 (-3.16, -0.33%)
S&P Composite: 102.08 (-0.09, -0.09%)
Arms Index: 0.94

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	676	8.54
Declines	709	8.41
Unchanged	498	3.75
Total Volume		20.70

* 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*
March 16, 1977	968.00	102.17	22.14
March 15, 1977	965.01	101.98	23.94
March 14, 1977	958.36	101.42	19.29
March 11, 1977	947.72	100.65	18.23
March 10, 1977	946.73	100.67	18.52
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