News stories from Tuesday August 23, 1977

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

Renewing his defense of Bert Lance, President Carter said the federal budget director had handled his business affairs in accordance with common banking practices. At the same time Mr. Carter questioned the propriety of traditional barking practices and the efficacy of current regulations. [New York Times] Affirmative-action programs have won Carter administration support after intense internal debate. It has decided to enter the case now before the Supreme Court involving Allen Bakke. He brought suit charging that he was refused admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis because he was white, while some members of minorities with lower academic records were admitted under a special affirmative-action program. [New York Times] Prices of General Motors cars for the 1978 model year will rise by an average of 5.7 percent, or $387, the industry's pricing leader announced. The increase was about what had been expected and would appear to raise the average "sticker price" of a GM car, usually higher than the actual selling price, to at least $7,000 for the first time. Other auto makers are expected to increase their prices in a similar range. [New York Times] Stock prices lost the impetus of Monday's rally and the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 1.73 points at 865.56. The July drop in orders for durable goods and the raising of the prime interest rates by major banks were cited by analysts to explain the restraint on prices. [New York Times] Gov. Marvin Mandel of Maryland and five of his friends were found guilty by a federal jury in Baltimore of mail fraud and racketeering. His lawyer said he would appeal, but under state law Mr. Mandel would automatically be removed from office after 45 days. His resignation is expected because he would lose his pension if he failed to resign before being removed, but he told a news conference that questions about this were premature. [New York Times] The worst forest fire season in 25 years is only two-thirds over, according to some experienced officials at the Federal Interagency Fire Center in Boise. They attributed the outbreak of fires mainly to last winter's drought in the Western states, the most severe in 70 years, turning timber stands from Alaska to New Mexico into dangerous tinder boxes. [New York Times] Mayor Beame and Bella Abzug are running neck and neck for the lead in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, according to a survey of registered and likely Democratic voters by the New York Times and WCBS-TV. Both Mario Cuomo and Representative Edward Koch could catch up with either or both. The indication was that none of the seven candidates would capture the necessary 40 percent of the vote making a runoff almost certain. [New York Times] Secretary of State Cyrus Vance began four days of talks with Chinese leaders with an appeal for mutual efforts by China and the United States to find ways to move toward normalization of relations. He made the overture in a toast in Peking's Great Hall of the People in which he gave the impression that he hoped China might help provide a long-elusive formula in which the United States could disengage from Taiwan without seeming to abandon it. [New York Times] President Carter said at a news conference that South Africa had informed the United States that it had no nuclear weapons and planned no nuclear tests at any time, countering a report circulated by the Soviet Union to which a French warning had given greater credibility. Mr. Carter welcomed the commitment and said the United States would renew its efforts to persuade South Africa to sign the treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons. He also expressed interest in the idea of a new sea-level canal in Panama and of assuring American participation in it. [New York Times] Bansi Lal, who was Defense Minister of India in the government of Indira Gandhi and one of its most important members, was arrested on charges of having misappropriated political party funds. It was the successor government's most decisive move so far against the inner circle that ran the country. Since it involved funds of the Youth Congress, led by Mrs. Gandhi's son, Sanjay, speculation grew that the trail of criminal prosecution might lead to him. [New York Times] China's third-ranking leader, the recently rehabilitated Teng Hsiao-ping, will join the talks in Peking with the delegation headed by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance when they resume tomorrow, and Taiwan is on the agenda, according to a source in the delegation. Mr. Vance has been presenting a general view of American foreign policy in his talks with Foreign Minister Huang Hua, the highest Chinese he has met so far. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 865.56 (-1.73, -0.20%)
S&P Composite: 97.62 (-0.17, -0.17%)
Arms Index: 0.87

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	695	9.01
Declines	712	8.04
Unchanged	480	3.24
Total Volume		20.29

* 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*
August 22, 1977	867.29	97.79	17.87
August 19, 1977	863.48	97.51	20.80
August 18, 1977	864.26	97.68	21.04
August 17, 1977	864.59	97.74	20.92
August 16, 1977	869.28	97.73	19.34
August 15, 1977	874.13	98.18	15.75
August 12, 1977	871.10	97.88	16.87
August 11, 1977	877.43	98.16	21.74
August 10, 1977	887.04	98.92	18.28
August 9, 1977	879.42	98.05	19.90