News stories from Wednesday August 31, 1977

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

The White House is lobbying with unusual intensity to win Senate approval of the Panama Canal treaties. The campaign began before the negotiations in Panama ended, with indications that the administration favored a Senate vote this fall. Since public opinion polls have shown popular opposition to giving up the canal, White House aides say that a vote next year, "when we have the votes," is more likely. [New York Times] Justice Department and congressional sources said that a federal grand jury had handed down a sealed indictment against Tongsun Park, who was allegedly the South Korean government's principal agent in its influence-buying operation in Washington. The nature of the charge against Mr. Park could not be determined. [New York Times] The energy program of the administration has failed to draw broad support, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll, because too few people take the problem seriously enough and even fewer understand it well enough. With the Senate taking up the package this month, observers are predicting a tough fight. [New York Times] Soil-soaking rains have probably broken the Midwestern drought. The rains have begun to replenish the moisture in the depleted subsoil, according to federal experts, even though they came too late to save some corn crops in especially hard-hit areas. Elsewhere the rains have brought relief to much of the Southeast and parts of the far Northwest. However, most of the country west of the Rockies is dry. [New York Times] Stock prices took a sharp upswing late in the session that reduced most earlier losses. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 2.60 points at 861.49, but on the New York Stock Exchange losing issues slightly outnumbered gainers. [New York Times] A court-ordered wiretap of a Miami shipping agent has enabled the Federal Bureau of Investigation to undertake its biggest investigation of the waterfront industry, sources close to the investigation say. They say that an undercover agent was able to monitor numerous illegal payoffs to high officials of the International Longshoremen's Association. [New York Times] A new federal agency replacing the United States Information Agency and the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs of the State Department is being planned by the Carter administration for submission to Congress, with a presidential guarantee of independence for Voice of America news. The agency would be under the overall guidance of the Secretary of State, but with its own budget and administration. [New York Times] The rate of surgery on the poor and near-poor is double that for the general population, according to a congressional study of persons receiving Medicaid benefits. The disparity was found to be even greater for some elective surgery, for conditions that do not threaten life. [New York Times] White Rhodesians gave Ian Smith and his party's candidates an overwhelming mandate for the Prime Minister to negotiate a vaguely defined constitutional settlement outside the framework sought by the United States and Britain. The voters rejected the proposals of Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Owen, and Andrew Young, American delegate to the United Nations, who visit the Rhodesian capital tomorrow. [New York Times] Weakened by the civil war in Lebanon, the Palestine Liberation Organization has trouble in its ranks as a result of its heavy dependence on Syria that restricts its activities. But militants are hopeful that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Menachem Begin will show Arab countries that an American-sponsored Middle East settlement is impossible. [New York Times] France announced new public spending and credit measures to cope with rising unemployment. The government of President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, facing crucial elections next spring, proclaimed its second package of stimulative measures this year. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 861.49 (+2.60, +0.30%)
S&P Composite: 96.77 (+0.39, +0.40%)
Arms Index: 0.89

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	686	8.31
Declines	697	7.48
Unchanged	494	3.29
Total Volume		19.08

* 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 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
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