News stories from Thursday April 21, 1977

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

In a reversal, the Carter administration said that the energy program would have "no significant effect" on the country's economic growth. The retraction by Bert Lance, director of the Office of Management and Budget, replaced and contradicted part of an energy "fact sheet" released Wednesday predicting "small, but generally positive impacts on the economy" from the energy program. Economists, meanwhile, continued to argue that the program would mean more inflation, less employment and less growth. [New York Times] The strongest objections in Congress to the energy program were directed at the proposed higher gasoline taxes because either they would cause hardship or members doubted the taxes would cut gasoline consumption. The energy proposals were also criticized because incentives for increased oil and natural gas output were inadequate.Oil and gas producers also criticized the energy program's lack of incentives to expand production. Some oil companies and trade associations expressed distaste for the administration's proposals. "We're concerned about the lack of balance in the proposed energy program," said H. J. Haynes, the chairman of the Standard Oil Company of California. [New York Times] Most people are prepared to make adjustments in the way they live, work and play to get along with the energy program, according to an informal check of families in all parts of the country. Some resentment was expressed, though, and it seemed that some of the energy-saving measures might be painful, even unfair. [New York Times] Slightly smaller price increases for food and other commodities slowed the inflation rate in March, the Labor Department said. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.6 percent last month, down sharply from the increase of 1 percent in February and 0.8 percent in January. There was an average monthly rise of only 0.3 percent in the last four months of 1976. [New York Times] A review of the conviction of the Watergate cover-up defendants, John Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, was reported turned down by the Supreme Court last Friday in a 5 to 3 vote. Chief Justice Warren Burger was said by court sources to have postponed a final disposition of the case, however, and to have scheduled the review issue for consideration at the justices' regular private session tomorrow. [New York Times] A tax break for business in some form was virtually assured in the Senate despite President Carter's withdrawal of business tax concessions from his economic stimulus program. The Senate voted 74 to 20 against a motion by two liberal Democrats, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, to kill provisions for business credits in the tax bill that went to the floor Tuesday. A final Senate vote is not expected until next week. [New York Times] Stock prices declined under selling pressure. Many blue-chip issues, including I.B.M., Eastman Kodak and Sears, Roebuck, traded at their lowest prices of this year. The Dow Jones industrial average was steady at the session's start, but later it weakened and closed 6.79 points lower at 935.80. [New York Times] A tougher stand against corporate moves from New York City is being taken by the Mayor's Office of Economic Development. One of the measures being taken is an attempt to block use of federal highway funds for road improvements that make remote suburban areas accessible for office centers. Meanwhile, the Suburban Action Institute, a private group, is preparing to file lawsuits against companies that move to places that have low numbers of minority workers. [New York Times] Emergency powers were assumed by Prime Minister Bhutto of Pakistan, who imposed martial law on three major cities in a crackdown on the opposition alliance trying to force him to resign. Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad were put under strict curfew. The government radio warned that curfew violators were liable to be shot at. [New York Times] A visit to Havana will probably be made soon by Terence Todman, the State Department's chief Latin American official, to resume the negotiations on fishing and maritime rights that were begun in New York last month. It would be the first visit by a ranking administration official since diplomatic relations were broken in 1961. [New York Times] America's trading partners in Western Europe were assured by the Carter administration that it would strongly oppose domestic pressure to restrict imports, particularly pressure against imports of European steel. The assurances came from Richard Cooper, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, at a meeting of the commission of the Common Market. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 935.80 (-6.79, -0.72%)
S&P Composite: 99.75 (-0.65, -0.65%)
Arms Index: 1.41

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	564	5.76
Declines	907	13.09
Unchanged	419	3.89
Total Volume		22.74

* 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 20, 1977	942.59	100.40	25.09
April 19, 1977	938.77	100.07	19.51
April 18, 1977	942.76	100.54	17.83
April 15, 1977	947.76	101.04	20.23
April 14, 1977	947.00	101.00	30.49
April 13, 1977	938.18	100.16	21.80
April 12, 1977	937.16	100.15	23.76
April 11, 1977	924.10	98.88	17.65
April 7, 1977	918.88	98.35	17.26
April 6, 1977	914.73	97.91	16.66