News stories from Thursday May 26, 1977

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

If Congress votes "excessive" increases in spending they will be vetoed, President Carter said, appealing for budgetary restraints. However, the House Appropriations Committee in the meantime was voting a Labor and Health, Education and Welfare funding bill that was $917 million over the President's budget request, and that will probably rise another $534 million more when delayed appropriations for youth job training are voted later. [New York Times] The House approved a bill amending the Clean Air Act of 1970 after first adopting a provision that would further delay and permanently weaken controls on automobile exhaust fumes. The vote was 326 to 49, but the wide margin did not reflect the intense battle over the amendment on auto emissions. Earlier, a compromise amendment, backed by the administration and containing tougher restrictions, was defeated 202 to 190. [New York Times] The New Jersey Assembly, 43 to 26, approved the Casino Control Act under which state-regulated gambling casinos will be established in Atlantic City, the first of their kind in the East. The 43 votes were only two more than the 41 needed to pass the bill. It had appeared that attempts to amend the bill would stall its passage. The State Senate passed the bill last Monday. Governor Byrne. a spokesman said, will sign the bill next week. [New York Times] The United States had a record trade deficit of $2.6 billion in April, the fourth straight record-setting deficit. The Commerce Department said that imports might exceed exports by an unprecedented $20 billion for the entire year. Oil imports declined in April, but they were still the largest factor in total imports. [New York Times] Stock prices rallied late in the session, halting a slide over the five preceding sessions that brought the Dow Jones industrial average down a total of 38 points, "A decline of 38 points in the Dow in five days is a pretty rapid descent, which does not appear sustainable," an analyst said. The industrial average was at a 16-month low when the rally, though a mild one, brought it up 4.83 points to 908.07. Declining issues nevertheless outnumbered rising ones by more than 7 to 6. [New York Times] Plans for controversial genetic experiments known as gene-splicing were announced by the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York. Dr. Robert Good, the institute's president, said that Dr. Janet Stavnezer, one of its researchers, had requested a grant from the National Institutes of Health to finance the gene-splicing experiments, whose scientific name is recombinant DNA research. [New York Times] The New York Jets will play their home football games at Shea Stadium, with only one exception: a game this Sept. 25 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey's Meadowlands, The Jets had said they would play two home games a season in New Jersey because of the Mets' refusal to permit other teams to use Shea during the baseball season. The Mets changed their minds in an agreement in which Justice Harold Baer of the state Supreme Court was a mediator. [New York Times] A total of $38 million, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation said, possibly was paid overseas as bribes and other questionable payments to win aircraft and other contracts from 1970 to 1975. The company had previously said the total was "at least $25 million." The new figure was part of a long report to the government that also described Swiss bank operations and other disguised money transfers. The company refused to name more countries or officials involved because of the "grave damage this might do to Lockheed." [New York Times] Andrew Young, the chief United States representative to the United Nations, returned to Washington from his trip to Africa and Britain, more than ever embroiled in controversy. In only a day, he enraged the Swedes, the Russians, the British, the Borough of Queens and almost certainly the State Department. [New York Times] The South Moluccan extremists in the Netherlands released the schoolchildren they had been holding hostage in the Assen region when a contagious infection swept through the school, making many of the children ill. Four children had previously been released when they became sick. Dutch officials said that over 100 children had been taken by bus to Groningen, north of Assen. The captors remained in the school with five teachers. They were still holding 50 to 60 people captive on a train. [New York Times] The administration's proposal to withdraw American ground troops from South Korea was defended by President Carter with expressions of confidence that South Korea was strong enough to repel an attack. The President also said at his news conference that Gen. John Singlaub's public criticism of plans to withdraw 32,000 troops was "a very serious breach" of his responsibility and "an invitation to the world to expect an inevitable war." [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 908.07 (+4.83, +0.53%)
S&P Composite: 97.01 (+0.24, +0.25%)
Arms Index: 0.60

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	628	9.24
Declines	775	6.89
Unchanged	479	2.49
Total Volume		18.62

* 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 25, 1977	903.24	96.77	20.71
May 24, 1977	912.40	97.67	20.05
May 23, 1977	917.06	98.15	18.29
May 20, 1977	930.46	99.45	18.95
May 19, 1977	936.48	99.88	21.28
May 18, 1977	941.91	100.30	27.80
May 17, 1977	936.48	99.77	22.29
May 16, 1977	932.50	99.47	21.17
May 13, 1977	928.34	99.03	19.78
May 12, 1977	925.54	98.73	21.98