News stories from Thursday March 31, 1977

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

A federal gasoline tax increase is likely to be among the proposals that President Carter will make to Congress when he presents his energy policy on April 20, according to the planners who have been drafting the policy with James Schlesinger, the White House energy coordinator. The President may also propose higher statutory goals for automobile gasoline efficiency and a graduated tax that would fall heaviest on owners of automobiles that consume the largest amounts of gasoline, would be negligible on medium-sized cars, and would be a government subsidy for buyers of automobiles that use the least gas. [New York Times] Justice Department lawyers have recommended to Attorney General Griffin Bell that the department seek criminal indictments against at least six present and former officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who authorized illegal break-ins by F.B.I. agents in New York. The recommendation by the department's civil rights division has been sent by Mr. Bell to the department's criminal division for an opinion on whether the prosecutions should be sought. [New York Times] Joseph Califano said that he made a mistake when he said in a recent interview that he advocated racial and sexual quotas as a means of redressing past discrimination. The Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare said in the interview that employment quotas could and did work in reversing patterns of job discrimination. What he really meant, Mr. Califano said, was equal opportunity for all. He said that "either because of past or ongoing discrimination against minorities or women" there should be "affirmative action to rectify that situation." [New York Times] An Investigation into allegations that the Columbia Gas Company's shortage of gas last winter was more a result of bad judgment than bad weather was ordered by the Federal Power Commission at the request of Senator Howard Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio. Senator Metzenbaum charges Columbia customers are being asked to pay double or quadruple the amount of their normal gas bills to compensate for high-priced gas the company had to purchase when its own supplies ran low because of poor judgment. Columbia said "there is no basis for these charges." [New York Times] The controversial shoe import issue, whose outcome is regarded as a test of the new administration's attitude on foreign trade, may be settled through compromise, Robert Strauss, President Carter's chief trade negotiator, suggested. Mr. Strauss indicated that he would be in favor of some form of protection for American manufacturers of low-priced shoes that would not antagonize this country's trading partners. [New York Times] Damaging splits in the Episcopal Church's national office in New York City have resulted from a conflict over the church's Hispanic Affairs Commission. The divisiveness threatens to spread to the church's 2.8 million members. The conflict arose over a federal inquiry into the commission's possible role in radical Hispanic politics and the cooperation by church officials in granting the Federal Bureau of Investigation access to church records. [New York Times] A $6.2 billion appropriation for the nation's intelligence operations in the budget for the fiscal year 1978 has been requested by the administration, according to sources close to the Senate Intelligence Committee. This is the first year that the Senate has had the responsibility for authorizing an intelligence budget. The committee apparently gave tentative approval to the fund request when it met its legal mandate to give the Senate Budget Committee its "views and estimates" of the intelligence budget by March 15. [New York Times] Britain's North Sea oil is being produced in such quantities that experts predict that in two or three years Britain will be self-sufficient in oil and in energy as well -- the only major Western country likely to achieve such a status for many more years. The Department of Energy reported that North Sea oil production averaged 632,000 barrels a day in February, well over double last year's rate. [New York Times] The Carter administration was attacked by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union for making what he said were unrealistic proposals on arms control in which unilateral advantages were given to the United States. Mr. Gromyko held a news conference to explain his government's rejection of two arms control proposals presented by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. He was both sarcastic and annoyed as he presented the Soviet views. [New York Times] The loss of an important town in Zaire to invading Katangan exiles was conceded by the government of President Mobutu Sese Seko. The government also announced that it had dismissed the Zairian army commander for the region and imposed censorship of news dispatches on the situation there. The exiles, who crossed into Zaire from Angola March 8, were now officially reported to have taken the rail center of Mutshatsha in the southern Province of Shaba and to be pressing eastward toward Kowezi. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 919.13 (-2.08, -0.23%)
S&P Composite: 98.42 (-0.12, -0.12%)
Arms Index: 1.04

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	601	5.92
Declines	759	7.78
Unchanged	483	2.81
Total Volume		16.51

* 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 30, 1977	921.21	98.54	18.81
March 29, 1977	932.01	99.69	17.03
March 28, 1977	926.11	99.00	16.71
March 25, 1977	928.86	99.06	16.55
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