News stories from Thursday March 6, 1980

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

New authority over American hostages in Iran is set. The Islamic militants, who have held the Americans since Nov. 4, announced that they had agreed, under "intolerable pressures" from Iranian authorities, to surrender the 50 captives to the governing Revolutionary Council. Iran's Foreign Minister said that the Americans "remain hostages," and informants said that the scheduled transfer did not necessarily indicate an early release.A key first step toward the freeing of the American hostages has been taken, according to Asian diplomats at the United Nations. But they added that many obstacles remained. They said Iran's President must feel that the mass of the Iranian people supported the hostages' release and that this might take weeks. [New York Times] Washington reacted cautiously to the apparent good news that the Iranian militants would surrender the American hostages to Iranian authorities. Hopes have risen and fallen repeatedly in the crisis, leading a spokesman to comment: "We are going to watch and see what happens." [New York Times] Israel dismissed U.N. opposition to Jewish settlements policy as "not binding." In a defiant speech to Israel's Parliament, Prime Minister Begin said his government would continue to permit Jews to settle in the occupied territories and termed the policy "a question of life and death for us." [New York Times] Converting utility plants to coal from oil was pressed by President Carter in outlining to Congress a 10-year, $10 billion program aimed at inducing the companies to help save one million barrels of imported crude oil daily. Under the program, $3.6 billion in federal grants would be made within five years to convert 107 power plants, including 45 at 20 sites in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. [New York Times] A draft-Ford group has been formed by an influential group of associates of former President Gerald Ford to stir public appeals to him to enter the 1980 Republican presidential race. The committee, established with his knowledge and including major fundraisers, is designed to meet his request that, before he entered the race, he wanted to see "a bona fide urging by a broad-based group in my party." [New York Times] Jewish support for President Carter has become a major concern of his campaign since the United States approval, and later disavowal, of a United Nations resolution condemning Isreali settlements in occupied territories. Two leading Jewish advisers of the President have asked about 60 Jewish leaders to meet with them Monday to try to dampen the controversy in advance of the March 25 presidential primary in New York. [New York Times] A plan to register women for a possible military draft was rejected by a vote of 8 to 1 in a House Armed Services subcommittee after only a 20-minute discussion during which most members called the proposal unnecessary. The action in effect kills the Carter administration plan. [New York Times] An affirmative action program to increase job opportunities for racial minority members and women has been ordered in the entire federal court system, the nation's leading judges decided. The program is to take effect at once. [New York Times] A South Korean colonel was executed by a military firing squad. The colonel, Pak Hung Ju, was one of six men sentenced to death for the murder last Oct. 26 of President Park Chung Hee and five of his guards. Appeals by the other sentenced men are pending. [New York Times] An aid plan for Pakistan has been suspended, according to Washington officials, who said that the administraton would not seek congressional approval for the $400 million package. Pakistan's Foreign Minister has said that his government rejected the offer as harmful to its interests. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 828.07 (-16.81, -1.99%)
S&P Composite: 108.65 (-2.48, -2.23%)
Arms Index: 1.54

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	174	3.26
Declines	1,502	43.43
Unchanged	259	2.92
Total Volume		49.61

* 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 5, 1980	844.88	111.13	49.25
March 4, 1980	856.48	112.78	44.31
March 3, 1980	854.35	112.50	38.68
February 29, 1980	863.14	113.66	38.80
February 28, 1980	854.44	112.35	40.31
February 27, 1980	855.12	112.38	46.43
February 26, 1980	864.25	113.98	40.04
February 25, 1980	859.81	113.33	39.14
February 22, 1980	868.77	115.04	48.21
February 21, 1980	868.52	115.28	51.54