News stories from Wednesday September 7, 1977

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

The Panama Canal treaties were signed by President Carter and Gen. Omar Torrijos, Panama's chief of government, in the Pan American Union building in Washington before representatives of 26 other Western Hemisphere nations. Mr. Carter said the treaties would assure "a peaceful and prosperous and secure future for an international waterway of great importance to us all." [New York Times] A new report on Bert Lance from the Comptroller of the Currency said that the budget director and his wife had received some $3.5 million in loans or refinancing from a Georgia bank in which Mr. Lance's bank had a substantial account. The report found "some evidence tending to support the view that, but for the correspondence accounts, the loans would not have been made," but no illegality. [New York Times] Factors such as race can be taken into consideration in university placement, the Justice Department has advised President Carter, but setting a specific quota of places in each class is unconstitutional, according to administration officials. A top White House official said Mr. Carter had not yet decided whether to adopt this position in the case now before the Supreme Court involving a white student who was denied admission to the University of California at Davis. A number of officials, including the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, are said to oppose this position. [New York Times] Outstanding consumer loans rose by $2.32 billion in July, a slight increase over the June gain, the Federal Reserve Board reported. But it added that extensions of new credit declined by about $200 million and liquidations of existing credit also declined by about $200 million. The July report was thus inconclusive as an indication of consumer confidence. [New York Times] Stock prices rose with encouragement from a modest increase in capital spending plans. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced for its fifth consecutive gain, closing up 3.12 points. [New York Times] Increased business investment of $136.5 billion in new plant and equipment is planned for this year, according to a Department of Commerce survey. Compared with last year's $120.5 billion investment, this would be a 13.3 percent increase, but the department calculates that the real increase, after adjusting for the impact of inflation on investment costs, is in the vicinity of 8 percent. [New York Times] Former President Gerald Ford denied having promised the Chinese leaders in 1975 that he would sever relations with Taiwan and recognize Peking if elected. He told reporters in Denver that he had told the Chinese that the approach to normalization known as the Japanese formula was a "possibility" and that any charge toward normalization must be predicated on solving the Taiwan issue peacefully. [New York Times] Coca Cola and an Egyptian consortium set up a joint $50 million venture for an agricultural project in Egypt, in an arrangement implying that Egypt will try to get the American soft-drink concern off the Arab blacklist at the November meeting of the Arab Boycott Commission. [New York Times] Anyone convicted of murder should be sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without a chance of parole, Governor Carey said while talking with voters in New York City. The idea was one he ridiculed when it was put forward in July by state Senator Roy Goodman, who is now seeking the Republican nomination for Mayor of New York City. Mr. Carey reaffirmed his opposition to the death penalty. [New York Times] A F.B.I. agent charged Marie Torres, a woman known to be linked to Puerto Rican nationalist groups, with the bombing of the Mobil Oil building in Manhattan on Aug. 3. She is the wife of Carlos Torres, who has been indicted in Chicago for bombings there. Both are fugitives in the investigation of the group known as F.A.L.N. [New York Times] Fort Drum in northern New York may be the new home of the Second Infantry Division when it is withdrawn from South Korea. The site, which the Carter administration is considering along with Fort Benning in Georgia or Fort Bliss in Texas, is a 107,000-acre base northeast of Watertown that has been used in recent years for summer reserve training and for winter exercises. New York members of Congress and Governor Carey have been quietly urging its selection, citing the help it would give the region's economy and the similarity of climate and terrain to central and northern Europe. [New York Times] Britain's labor unions agreed to restrain their wage demands and return the country to free collective bargaining after two years of formal controls. The vote was a major victory for the Labor government of Prime Minister James Callaghan -- if some union leaders and rank-and-file workers would cease their opposition to it. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 876.39 (+3.12, +0.36%)
S&P Composite: 98.01 (+0.30, +0.31%)
Arms Index: 0.66

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	774	9.84
Declines	599	5.04
Unchanged	520	3.19
Total Volume		18.07

* 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*
September 6, 1977	873.27	97.71	16.13
September 2, 1977	872.31	97.45	15.62
September 1, 1977	864.86	96.83	18.82
August 31, 1977	861.49	96.77	19.08
August 30, 1977	858.89	96.38	18.22
August 29, 1977	864.09	96.92	15.28
August 26, 1977	855.42	96.09	18.48
August 25, 1977	854.12	96.15	19.40
August 24, 1977	862.87	97.23	18.17
August 23, 1977	865.56	97.62	20.29