News stories from Monday May 2, 1977

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

The nation's welfare system "should be scrapped and a totally new system implemented," President Carter said, but he added that the new system could not go into effect for four years or more. Changes in the welfare system have been under intense study by the administration for more than three months. The President, in a reporters' briefing, offered few more specific proposals for change than he did in his campaign. [New York Times] A natural gas pipeline across Canada from Alaska's North Slope was proposed by the Federal Power Commission in Washington. The four commissioners were divided over which of the two overland routes should be accepted if the Canadians want their gas from the Mackenzie Delta carried south on the same line. They agreed, however, that the proposal by the Alaskan Arctic Gas Pipeline Company should be dropped in favor of one by the Alcan Pipeline Company if the Canadians do not participate. [New York Times] United States Steel expects higher steel prices to take effect "within the next 30 to 45 days," Michael Curto, a vice president, said following the company's 76th annual meeting in Pittsburgh. Edgar Speer, the company's chairman, said at a news conference that price increases were "under study" and when the company analyzes production costs, including recently won wage increases for steel workers, "we will take whatever action we have to." [New York Times] The stock market advanced on encouraging economic news, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average up 4.32 points to 931.22. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones by a 9 to 5 ratio. Prices started to move up in mid-afternoon when the Commerce Department reported that factory orders had increased 5.2 percent In March while construction spending was up 5.6 percent. [New York Times] Laws against the posting of "for sale" and "sold" signs on residential property are generally unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said, if towns and municipalities adopted such prohibitions to stem the flight of white homeowners in the hope of maintaining an integrated community. The Court, by 8 to 0, ruled that the ban violated the First Amendment. [New York Times] A general strike in Ulster called by militant Protestants began with the fire-bombing of several Belfast stores, and a bomb ripped up railway tracks on the city's outskirts. There were no casualties, according to the police. It was not known whether the bombs had been set off by Protestant strikers seeking to intimidate other workers from going to their jobs, or members of the Irish Republican Army. Additional British troops were flown to Ulster hours before the strike began at midnight. [New York Times] President Carter told European television interviewers that he would maintain his "undeviating commitment" to human rights everywhere until his last day in office. He stressed that this did not mean imposing his view forcibly on other nations. He said the coming economic summit meeting in London was intended not for mutual criticism but to seek common ground and set long-range goals. [New York Times] Laos, two years after the gradual Communist takeover, has largely suppressed crime, with hard work expected from everyone. But more than 100,000 people, including most of the professional and commercial elite, have fled. An official estimate says that about 1,000 a month, including farmers and urban workers, are still crossing into Thailand. [New York Times] The Soviet Union has achieved a breakthrough toward developing a weapon capable of destroying the entire United States ballistic missile force, according to an American scientific journal. Aviation Week and Space Technology said that an advance in high-energy physics may soon provide the Russians with a directed-energy beam capable of neutralizing all of the American missiles. The Department of Defense said it did not think much of the report. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 931.22 (+4.32, +0.47%)
S&P Composite: 98.93 (+0.49, +0.50%)
Arms Index: 0.69

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	891	10.85
Declines	488	4.10
Unchanged	492	3.02
Total Volume		17.97

* 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 29, 1977	926.90	98.44	18.33
April 28, 1977	927.32	98.20	18.37
April 27, 1977	923.76	97.96	20.59
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