News stories from Tuesday April 26, 1977

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

President Carter's jobs bill, a key element in his economic stimulus package, won acceptance from House and Senate conferees who agreed to detach the controversial water pollution provisions from the measure. The $4 billion bill to create 280,000 jobs in public works such as schools, hospitals, rail beds and parks is expected to ready for his signature on Friday. [New York Times] A first step toward capping the runaway North Sea oil well off Norway was taken when volunteer workmen attached a blowout protector and installed hydraulic rams they hope will pinch off the well. Work stopped at midday after the wind died, permitting the formation of a dangerous concentration of natural gas on the drilling platform. [New York Times] Ceilings on doctors' fees are under study by the Carter administration, which as already introduced legislation to contain hospital costs. The proposal's completion is months away, but its introduction could bring sharp controversy with organized medicine. A specialist with links to that group said that after the hospital bill was announced "we knew it would only be a matter of time before they started on us." [New York Times] Regional name-calling has begun in several parts of the country, particularly in the South and West, touched off by President Carter's energy proposals. Legislators in Western coal-producing states have pledged protection against the ravages of strip mining, generating plants and coal slurry pipelines, and state officials in the southwest have promised to go all-out to save local oil and gas for the region's growing industry. [New York Times] Christopher Boyce, defendant In Los Angeles Federal Court, said his revulsion as a Central Intelligence Agency code clerk on learning of a "deception against the Australians" led eventually to his being blackmailed into becoming a Soviet spy. Government lawyers raised objections when he began explaining details of the alleged deception and were upheld by the judge. Other sources said it had some connection with an American satellite communication readout station located in Australia. [New York Times] Stock prices clung precariously to a slight gain, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing up 1.02 points at 915.62 and narrowly avoiding another 15-month low. Wall Street appeared nervous over rising short-term rates, among other worries, including uncertainties posed by President Carter's energy program. [New York Times] With steel profits sharply down in the first quarter, key industry leaders began calling for an almost immediate increase in prices. They blamed poor weather, a lag in the economy and rising imports. United States Steel said profits were 72 percent below a year earlier, while Bethlehem Steel reported a $25.2 million loss compared with a $28.4 net profit in the first quarter of 1976. [New York Times] The major factor making men susceptible to heart attacks is a change in the delicate balance of the body's sex hormones, according to a major new theory developed by Dr. Gerald Phillips of Columbia University. His evidence is drawn from a study of heart attack patients at Roosevelt Hospital. If confirmed, the theory offers the possibility of developing new ways of preventing and treating heart attacks and has implications for the aging process. [New York Times] President Carter told reporters after concluding his talks with King Hussein of Jordan that unless there were advance indications of progress toward a settlement it might be better to call off plans for a new Geneva conference on the Middle East. Although he said he was not discouraged that the gap between the Israeli and Arab positions has not been bridged so far, administration officials confirmed that there was a long way to go. King Hussein seemed to share this cautious approach. [New York Times] Strategic arms talks will resume May 11 in Geneva, in advance of the meeting there of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and' Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, the United States and the Soviet Union announced. Paul Warnke, who will head the American delegation at the new round of efforts to negotiate an arms limitation treaty, said no breakthrough was indicated, but rather a hope on both sides to clear up some technical problems and prepare for the higher-level session later that month. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 915.62 (+1.02, +0.11%)
S&P Composite: 97.11 (-0.22, -0.23%)
Arms Index: 1.01

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	611	7.30
Declines	742	8.99
Unchanged	532	3.75
Total Volume		20.04

* 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 25, 1977	914.60	97.33	20.44
April 22, 1977	927.07	98.44	20.70
April 21, 1977	935.80	99.75	22.74
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