News stories from Thursday May 12, 1977

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

Criticism of his domestic policies by liberal Democrats was brushed aside by President Carter. He said the criticism was not justified and described his critics as people who are always hard to please. He defended his programs and his goal of a balanced budget as consistent with the Democratic Party's traditions. "Obviously, we have a firm belief in the character of the Democratic Party," the President said. [New York Times] Apparently reversing the thrust of the administration on tax reform, President Carter expressed the hope that his tax reform program would involve no change in government revenues. The administration's position had been that tax reform would lead to broadly based tax cuts and end the double taxation of dividends, creating a better climate for new capital growth and investment. [New York Times] Blunt and personal remarks about Henry Kissinger were made by former President Richard Nixon in the second of five television interviews with David Frost. He described Mr. Kissinger as moody, secretive, capable of "outrageous" private remarks and intensely protective of official prerogatives. He said that he might have named John Connally Secretary of State in 1973, but Mr. Kissinger "couldn't tolerate" such a threat to his position as senior foreign policy adviser.Commenting on the first Nixon interview with David Frost, President Carter said it had not changed his opinion, expressed during his campaign, that the former President had violated the law and was guilty of impeachable offenses. [New York Times] The Federal Election Commission ordered Gov. Milton Shapp of Pennsylvania to return nearly $300,000 in public subsidies that he received for his 1976 presidential campaign. The agency said that his claim of eligibility for the money was, in part, false. An investigation found that a number of campaign contributions that ostensibly qualified Governor Shapp for federal matching funds had apparently not been made by the alleged donors but by the Shapp organization in violation of the new campaign law, There was a strong possibility that the commission would start a civil lawsuit against the Governor. Mr. Shapp made no comment. [New York Times] The stock market lacked pep. It made a slight retreat because of a continued weakness in key glamour issues and fears of a prime rate increase, The Dow Jones industrial average at mid-session had lost more than five points, but recovered and closed with a loss of only 1.36 points, at 925.54. Declining issues outnumbered advances by a slim margin, but the number of 1977 lows exceeded those reaching new highs. [New York Times] Jan. 1, 1978 has been set by the Securities and Exchange Commission as the effective date for the removal of the last big obstacle to unhampered competition in securities trading. Unless it can be persuaded to move more slowly, the S.E.C. would at that time require the New York Stock Exchange to permit its members to buy and sell listed stocks for their own accounts -- without taking the orders to the exchange's floor. Brokerage houses also would be allowed to match customers' orders against each other. [New York Times] A 28-year-old woman priest is scheduled to become pastor of an Episcopal parish in upstate New York. She will be the first woman in the nation to serve as rector of an Episcopal church. The Rev. Beverly Messenger-Harris who was baptized a Roman Catholic, was ordained an Episcopal priest last January in the Diocese of Central New York. She has been invited to become rector of the Gethsemane Episcopal Church in the Oneida County city of Sherrill. [New York Times] Attempts were being made in Saudi Arabia to divert the flow of oil around an area damaged by a pipeline rupture and fire that temporarily cut off more than half of the nation's petroleum production. The fire at the Abaqaiq field, 35 miles southwest of Dhahran, killed one man and injured 13. Oil shipments were not expected to be affected. [New York Times] A confrontation with Israel and its supporters was avoided by President Carter with the pledge that the United States had "special security responsibilities" to Israel and that "special treatment" would be given Israel with regard to the right to buy and co-produce advanced military equipment. Mr. Carter made his pledge twice, first at a White House meeting with congressional supporters or Israel and later at his news conference. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 925.54 (-1.36, -0.15%)
S&P Composite: 98.73 (-0.05, -0.05%)
Arms Index: 0.78

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	652	10.02
Declines	708	8.46
Unchanged	522	3.50
Total Volume		21.98

* 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*
May 11, 1977	926.90	98.78	18.98
May 10, 1977	936.14	99.47	21.09
May 9, 1977	933.90	99.18	15.23
May 6, 1977	936.74	99.49	19.37
May 5, 1977	943.44	100.11	23.45
May 4, 1977	940.72	99.96	23.33
May 3, 1977	934.19	99.43	21.95
May 2, 1977	931.22	98.93	17.97
April 29, 1977	926.90	98.44	18.33
April 28, 1977	927.32	98.20	18.37