News stories from Monday June 6, 1977

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

International Andrew Young qualified his remarks, made in a Playboy interview, that characterized Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon as "racists." Mr. Young said in Washington that he had been referring to "an insensitivity to cultural differences" that he believed would cause great difficulty for the United States in dealing with the non-white peoples of the world. William Brock, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Mr. Young's remarks about the two former Presidents "points up the fact that he is a diplomatic incompetent who should be fired." [New York Times] An oil-price increase by Saudi Arabia appears virtually certain between now and the end of the year. An increasing number of reports from informed sources, Saudi officials, and a usually reliable trade publication indicate an increase of 3 to 5 percent. Saudi Arabia's refusal to go along with a 10 percent increase made last Jan. 1 by other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has caused bitterness among the other oil producers. The anticipated Saudi increase is regarded as a substantial change in its oil policy. [New York Times] Reversing the Ford administration's position, the Carter administration has declared that it is legal for the government to withhold education funds in some circumstances from school districts that refuse to merge black and white schools to facilitate desegregation. The merger of two or more schools in "pairing" or "clustering" would require a limited amount of busing. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare was reportedly planning to enforce the new interpretation of the law by rejecting a desegregation plan proposed by the school board in Kansas City, Mo. [New York Times] The death penalty cannot be the mandatory, automatic punishment for anyone convicted of murdering a policeman, the Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4. The Court, referring to its landmark decisions on capital punishment last July, said that judges and juries must be allowed to take account of "mitigating" as well as "aggravating" circumstances and choose a lesser punishment if they think it appropriate. The decision spares the life of a Louisiana man who was convicted of killing a New Orleans policeman. [New York Times] The Carter administration intervened in the court fight over the Concorde supersonic jet airliner and urged a federal appeals court to rule against the ban by the Port Authority on test flights in New York on the ground that the agency's had been "unfair, dilatory, arbitrary and unreasonable." [New York Times] Bank-card credit advancing by $246 million helped bring consumer borrowing to a near record of $2.66 billion in April. Consumers borrowed a record $2.72 billion in March and in that month bank-card credit rose by $293 million. In April, much of the borrowing was for automobiles, mobile homes and home improvements. [New York Times] The stock market was unable to throw off its jitters and dropped sharply, erasing last Friday's gain. The retreat was brought about by economic portents -- among which were a possible further increase in bank prime rates and reports that there would be an increase soon in the price of Saudi Arabian oil. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 9.16 points to 903.07, wiping out the Dow gain of 9.08 points on Friday. The brightest sector of the market was movie-related stocks, which extended recent gains. [New York Times] Whether senior United States government officials deliberately covered up the allegedly illegal South Korean lobbying effort in Washington is a question the Justice Department is considering in an expansion of its investigation, people close to the inquiry say. A former director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Hyung Wook, says that the Central Intelligence Agency knew almost from the beginning about the scheme to provide members of Congress and others with gifts and cash with the intent of influencing American policy toward South Korea. [New York Times] A pledge was made to a congressional-executive watchdog commission by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance that the United States would press the Soviet Union and its allies to carry out all provisions of the Helsinki accords, including the controversial human rights clauses. An East-West review conference will be held in Belgrade this fall. The White House, meanwhile, released President Carter's assessment, made for the commission, of how the accord has been carried out over the last six months. [New York Times] Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated a week-long celebration of the silver jubilee of her reign by lighting a 30-foot bonfire on a hill near Windsor Castle. More than 100 others then were lit across the British Isles, forming eight burning chains extending from the Channel Islands to the farthest reaches of Scotland, and from the North Sea to Ireland. [New York Times] The Dutch government announced that it was consulting with the leaders of the South Moluccan community to find ways to make improvements in the status of the 40,000 South Moluccans in the Netherlands. Meanwhile tension seemed to have diminished following the release of two pregnant hostages by South Moluccan extremists, who seized their captives May 23. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 903.07 (-9.16, -1.00%)
S&P Composite: 97.23 (-0.46, -0.47%)
Arms Index: 1.27

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	599	5.89
Declines	775	9.71
Unchanged	514	3.33
Total Volume		18.93

* 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*
June 3, 1977	912.23	97.69	20.33
June 2, 1977	903.15	96.74	18.62
June 1, 1977	906.55	96.93	18.32
May 31, 1977	898.66	96.12	17.80
May 27, 1977	898.83	96.27	15.73
May 26, 1977	908.07	97.01	18.62
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