News stories from Monday April 11, 1977

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

Retail sales continued to increase in March, providing new evidence that the economy is more robust than when the administration began developing its economic stimulus program. The Commerce Department said total retail sales last month rose by 2.4 percent -- 28.8 percent at an annual rate -- with automobile sales the strongest sector. [New York Times] Part timers now make up a very large part of the nation's total work force. Statistics show that there is a part-time worker for every five and a half full-time employees. Millions of women now entering the labor market can find part-time jobs. But the huge numbers working part time or seeking part-time work may be distorting the unemployment figures. [New York Times] Blue-chip issues held steady and led a general increase in stock prices. Rising issues outnumbered losers 8 to 5. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.22 points to 924.10, with DuPont ahead in the blue-chip industrials, rising 2 7/8 to 126¾. This more than overcame a decline of 2 5/8 points last week, when DuPont shares were as low as 123, their lowest price of 1977. [New York Times] Muriel Siebert, who heads a Wall Street brokerage firm, is soon to be nominated by Governor Carey as Superintendent of Banks of New York state, according to banking industry sources. A spokesman for the governor said the report was "premature" and that "no final determination had been made." Nevertheless, it was said that Miss Siebert had agreed to accept the post, subject to completing satisfactory arrangements severing her connection with the New York Stock Exchange firm that bears her name. [New York Times] A California appeals court freed five young adult followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church from the custody of their parents. The three judge panel in a preliminary move pending further review said they could go where they wanted and associate with anyone. [New York Times] The United States warned the Soviet Union that further violations of its new fishing regulations could lead to "a worsening of our bilateral relations." The message was relayed through the Soviet Embassy after a Soviet fishing vessel and the cargo aboard another Soviet ship were seized by the Coast Guard over the weekend. [New York Times] France's Defense Ministry disclosed that French military instructors were stationed in Zaire, whose army is fighting an invasion by former Katangan rebels in the province of Shaba, formerly Katanga. A government spokesman said that instructors were in Zaire only to teach the Zairian armed forces how to use French military equipment, mainly "planes and tanks" under a "May 1974 contract for arms deliveries." The instructors had been sent to Zaire several months ago, the spokesman said. [New York Times] Normal relations with Peking and an increase in Chinese-American trade are goals of the Carter administration, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance told China's ranking diplomat in Washington. Mr. Vance also discussed his recent mission to Moscow with the diplomat, Huang Chen, who heads the Chinese Liaison Office. Before meeting with Mr. Huang, Mr. Vance made similar statements about Chinese-American relations to the National Council on United States-China Trade. Administration officials did not deny that they now seemed to be giving some additional importance to relations with China. [New York Times] The United States gets into difficulty in Africa because it makes "cold war" assessments of developments there based on a paranoia about Communism, said Andrew Young, the American delegate to the United Nations, at a Washington news conference. Mr. Young called the conference for an off-the-record discussion of United Nations issues, but when reporters objected he agreed to speak for attribution. He cited instances in Africa, specifically Egypt, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania, where he said Americans had concluded that Soviet or Chinese military or economic aid meant Communist domination. Neither in East nor West Africa has this been the result, he said. [New York Times] Israel's Finance Ministry fined Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin the equivalent of $1,500 for having the illegal overseas bank account that led to his withdrawal as the Labor Party's candidate for the Prime Ministership. The government's case against Mrs. Rabin, who maintained the account jointly with her husband, was prepared for trial. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 924.10 (+5.22, +0.57%)
S&P Composite: 98.88 (+0.53, +0.54%)
Arms Index: 0.68

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	857	10.21
Declines	536	4.36
Unchanged	495	3.08
Total Volume		17.65

* 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*
April 7, 1977	918.88	98.35	17.26
April 6, 1977	914.73	97.91	16.66
April 5, 1977	916.14	98.01	18.33
April 4, 1977	915.56	98.23	16.25
April 1, 1977	927.36	99.21	17.05
March 31, 1977	919.13	98.42	16.51
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