News stories from Wednesday April 27, 1977

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

The Senate rejected tax cuts proposed by Republicans and moved toward final action this week on a tax bill expected to be relatively uncluttered. The amendment that would have cut taxes up to 14 percent for low and middle-income wage earners was defeated 58-39 on a roll-call vote but would have been vetoed if adopted. [New York Times] The House of Representatives gave President Carter a major victory by voting 225 to 184 to support his full defense budget. On the motion to eliminate reductions made by the House Budget Committee, he got strong support from Republicans and Southern Democrats. [New York Times] A March trade deficit of a record $2.4 billion, resulting from a 22 percent increase in oil imports because of the unusually cold winter, was reported by the United States Department of Commerce. One of its economists said that except for the deficit with the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries, foreign trade was "in pretty healthy shape." [New York Times] General Motors reported its best first quarter, with earnings of $903 million or $3.14 a share, and the best quarter ever except for the second quarter of 1976. Unit sales, however, fell 3.2 percent short of the all-time high in the first quarter of 1973. [New York Times] Stock prices recovered steadily, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing 8.14 points higher at 923.76. Railroad and utility stocks also generally gained, and earnings reports and an optimistic top management tone at different annual meetings proved encouraging to investors. [New York Times] Attorney General Griffin Bell has been told by a delegation of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents from New York that they believe Justice Department officials knew of allegedly illegal investigative techniques used in seeking radical fugitives and condoned them, according to department sources. One former supervisor has been indicted on felony charges, and other indictments are expected. [New York Times] Shortly after the funeral of a young New York City police officer fatally shot in the line of duty. Police Commissioner Michael Codd said the man who killed him should be executed. With mounting anger as he answered questions outside the church, he noted that the accused killer had a criminal record and had been released under $500 bail on a gun charge only eight hours before the killing. [New York Times] Minority enrollment in six of the seven medical schools in New York City has fallen even further than the national average despite a seven-year effort to increase it. The fact that one school surpassed the 12 percent target set by the Association of American Medical Colleges led a Health Policy Advisory Center analyst to conclude that for the most part there was no "affirmative action" and that charges of "reverse discrimination" were unfounded. [New York Times] A $2.7 billion energy research plan announced by the West German government includes nuclear power and the plutonium-based reactors that President Carter opposes. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has said the reactors would be a major export industry and would be sold to any country that wants them. He has rejected American calls not to export sensitive nuclear technology unless all exporting countries make the same commitment. [New York Times] Power to impose drastic penalties on countries found in violation of treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons was asked by President Carter in legislation submitted to Congress. His spokesman made it clear that they would be used to apply a reasonable amount of pressure but not to dictate to other nations. [New York Times] Black unemployment in South Africa is increasing by the thousands every week as the country heads deeper into its worst recession since the 1930's. Feelings run highest in Soweto, a black ghetto outside Johannesburg, where one in five of the labor force is reckoned out of work as living costs soar and student protests resume. [New York Times] Israel's Foreign Ministry supported the view expressed by President Carter and King Hussein of Jordan, publicly questioning whether it would be worth reconvening the Geneva Middle East peace conference unless the Israelis and Arabs can work out some of their major differences in advance. Failure would be worse than postponement, the Israeli ministry said. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 923.76 (+8.14, +0.89%)
S&P Composite: 97.96 (+0.85, +0.88%)
Arms Index: 0.70

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,068	14.54
Declines	372	3.56
Unchanged	446	2.49
Total Volume		20.59

* 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 26, 1977	915.62	97.11	20.04
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