News stories from Friday July 8, 1977

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

The number of Americans with jobs increased for the eighth straight month in June, but the unemployment rate edged upward to 7.1 percent of the labor force from 6.9 percent in May. The employment statistics were given in one of two government reports. The other report said that inflationary pressures on the economy eased considerably. A substantial drop in food prices contributed to a decline of six-tenths of 1 percent last month in the Labor Department's Wholesale Price Index. It was the sharpest fall in nearly four years. [New York Times] The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was shut down immediately following an explosion and fire at a pump station about midway down the pipeline's 800-mile route. The Alyeska Pipeline Company said the fire broke out at Pump Station No. 8, about 25 miles south of Fairbanks, where a nitrogen leak earlier this week closed the pipeline for two and a half days. [New York Times] Consumer credit increased by $2.53 billion in May. This was a moderate decline from the preceding two months, but was still the third biggest increase ever, the Federal Reserve Board said. The steep increase is causing concern among some economists, who believe loan defaults may rise. Other economists believe that the increase reflects confidence in the economy. [New York Times] Except for natural gas stocks, which have established their own bull market, stock prices generally declined. The Dow Jones industrial average, after opening higher, closed at 907.99, with a loss of 1.52 points. The first decline in wholesale prices in 10 months failed to dispel concern among investors and traders about the durability of the economic recovery and their fears that the money supply will show big gains in the weeks ahead. [New York Times] Families that adept hard-to-place children may get government subsidy. The administration plans to endorse next week legislation that would provide the subsidies, said Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. He said that the subsidies, which could amount to several thousand dollars a year to each family as long as their adopted child was dependent, would be part of the Carter administration's effort to find alternatives to abortion. [New York Times] The Washington and Los Angeles offices of the Church of Scientology were raided by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who were searching for government documents allegedly stolen by persons described as operatives of the church. Church operatives also allegedly forged Internal Revenue Service credentials and bugged a conference room in which I.R.S. officials were scheduled to discuss the church's tax-exempt status. [New York Times] The official American estimate of the Soviet Union's 1977 grain crop was increased by 4.6 percent to a record of one million tons above the record of 225 million metric tons. The Agriculture Department's forecast was about one million tons above the record of 223.8 million tons harvested in the Soviet Union last year. A decline in grain prices was believed likely because the new harvest coincides with worldwide grain surpluses. [New York Times] Ambassadors in Moscow were advised by Leonid Brezhnev to report Soviet policies to their governments "objectively" so that an atmosphere of good will might be established. He criticized no ambassador or country by name, but Soviet broadcasts sharply stepped up their attacks on the United States. Mr. Brezhnev appeared in robust health as he spoke at a Kremlin reception at which the Moscow diplomatic corps presented congratulations on his recent accession to the presidency. His assumption of the Soviet presidency has confirmed Mr. Brezhnev's stature as the most powerful man in the Soviet Union, but the question persists as to his successor. [New York Times] China was described as being filled with discontent and disillusionment over frequent purges and political shifts by the Chinese fighter pilot who defected to Taiwan on Thursday. "Whatever they say, no one trusts them any more," Fan Yuan-yen, an Air Force squadron chief, said of China's leaders at a news conference in Taipei. [New York Times] Marc Chagall's 90th birthday was celebrated at a concert in Nice given under the sponsorship of the French government. Some of the world's leading musicians accompanied the National Orchestra of the Monte Carlo Opera. The hall was hung with many of Chagall's paintings, which were borrowed for the occasion. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 907.99 (-1.52, -0.17%)
S&P Composite: 99.79 (-0.14, -0.14%)
Arms Index: 1.14

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	796	10.70
Declines	570	8.71
Unchanged	508	4.41
Total Volume		23.82

* 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*
July 7, 1977	909.51	99.93	21.74
July 6, 1977	907.73	99.58	21.23
July 5, 1977	913.59	100.09	16.85
July 1, 1977	912.65	100.10	18.16
June 30, 1977	916.30	100.48	19.41
June 29, 1977	913.33	100.11	19.00
June 28, 1977	915.62	100.14	22.67
June 27, 1977	924.10	100.98	19.87
June 24, 1977	929.70	101.19	26.49
June 23, 1977	925.37	100.62	24.33