News stories from Friday March 25, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Carter's stand on human rights was endorsed by 58 Senators not long before Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was to leave for Moscow for talks with Leonid Brezhnev. The endorsement from the Senators was contained in a letter delivered to President Carter by Senator Howard Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio. Mr. Metzenbaum said he had organized the signing to demonstrate support for the administration's "strong commitment to the ideals of human rights and individual freedom." [New York Times]
- The federal regulation of pay cable television is unconstitutional and improper, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in a decision of major importance to the television industry. The decision, if it survives an expected court challenge, could open the way to competition between pay cable stations and networks for showing first-run movies and major sports events. [New York Times]
- A mandatory term of life imprisonment was given Joanne Chesimard, a black activist, after she was found guilty of first-degree murder of a New Jersey state trooper. An all-white jury, after 22 hours of deliberation, convicted Mrs. Chesimard on all eight counts -- two for murder and six for assault and related charges -- for which she had been indicted. [New York Times]
- Stock prices continued their recent decline and the leading market averages closed at their lowest levels of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 6.81 points to 928.66, its low for the day. It has declined so far this year 75.79 points, or 7.55 percent, and in the last seven sessions it lost 39.14 points. Two other leading market indicators, Standard & Poor's index of 500 stocks, and the New York Stock Exchange index of all common issues, also showed sizable declines. Analysts believed that the market had been weakened by the possibility of higher interest rates and a flare-up of inflation. [New York Times]
- An anticipated loss in first quarter operations for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation would be its first quarterly deficit since the third quarter of 1959, when the company was dealing with a 116-day strike. This quarter's expected deficit was attributed to effects of the unusually cold winter. [New York Times]
- Another step toward normal relations with Cuba was taken by the Carter administration with the lifting of a ban on the spending of dollars by United States visitors to Cuba. Meanwhile, American and Cuban representatives continued talks in New York on fishing rights in the waters between the two countries. A State Department spokesman said that "progress was satisfactory." [New York Times]
- Thailand's six-month old military junta was overthrown in a coup led by the deputy army commander, the official Thai radio announced. The radio said that officers had established a "revolutionary council" and promised social and economic stability. [New York Times]
- The principal opponent of Prime Minister Zulfikar All Bhutto of Pakistan remained at liberty, about the only one of the opposition leadership who has not been arrested. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, vice president of the National Alliance, called for a nationwide protest strike tomorrow. [New York Times]
- The administration wants to separate conventional uranium reactors, so-called light-water reactors, "from the plutonium economy," James Schlesinger, President Carter's energy coordinator, told a group of citizens concerned about the spread of nuclear power and weapons. Mr. Schlesinger said the administration was opposed to the development of plutonium fuel systems for nuclear power reactors, but would go along with construction of additional conventional uranium reactors. His remarks were believed to foreshadow what Mr. Carter may say in an energy policy statement in April. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 928.86 (-6.81, -0.73%)
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 24, 1977 | 935.67 | 99.70 | 19.65 |
| March 23, 1977 | 942.32 | 100.20 | 19.36 |
| March 22, 1977 | 950.96 | 101.00 | 18.66 |
| March 21, 1977 | 953.54 | 101.31 | 18.04 |
| March 18, 1977 | 961.02 | 101.86 | 19.84 |
| March 17, 1977 | 964.84 | 102.08 | 20.70 |
| 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 |