News stories from Tuesday September 27, 1977

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

The deadlock on abortions under the Medicaid program may be broken through a House-Senate compromise that is beginning to emerge. The House voted 252 to 164 to affirm its support of a ban on such abortions except when the mother's life is endangered. The chairman of the Senate conferees, Warren Magnuson of Washington, said the Senators might drop insistence on "medically necessary" abortions if the House conferees would accept language permitting abortions for women with specific diseases that could cause serious deformity or debilitation to the fetus. [New York Times] America's widening trade deficit has protectionist implications that make a number of international bankers attending the annual meeting in Washington of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank uneasy. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal said the deficit was worrisome but that stability was assured by a strong and growing American economy. But a number of bankers challenged this view as over-optimistic. [New York Times] The Senate filibuster by opponents of deregulation of the price of newly discovered natural gas passed the four day mark despite leaders' efforts for a compromise or an end to debate. Although limitation of debate had been voted, several hundred amendments submitted mostly as a delaying tactic could hold up passage of the bill for a matter of days. [New York Times] Stock prices went down again, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 5.80 points to close at 835.85, its lowest reading since Dec. 12, 1975. Analysts said the sharply higher current-account trade deficit disclosed by Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal caused a major portion of the selling pressure. [New York Times] Three Army generals reported that the United States Military Academy was suffering from a slackening of the pursuit of excellence, poor morale, lack of supervision and planning, and intellectual inbreeding of the faculty members. They found resistance to change, negative attitudes toward learning among cadets and a pervasive lack of humor at West Point. [New York Times] A second man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of making a false declaration to a grand jury and conspiracy to defraud the United States, stemming from alleged influence-buying efforts of the Korean government. Hancho Kim, a naturalized United States citizen, has denied previous news accounts linking him to this. [New York Times] Tax deductions for business meals would be limited to one-half the tab under a proposal that is virtually certain to be part of President Carter's broad-gauge tax revision package, according to administration sources. Introduction of the package has been put off about two weeks to give the Senate time to complete action on the energy bill, the sources say. [New York Times] Conflict of interest was disclaimed by an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture with substantial land holdings in California's Imperial Valley who has sought special treatment for the area in enforcing a federal water resources law. Robert Meyer said he had been told by the Agriculture Secretary that he could talk about the issue as an individual, provided he did not discuss administration policy on it. He said he had talked only of his personal problems with members of the administration and of Congress. [New York Times] Exxon has agreed to end violations of federal securities laws, specifically governing illegal political and other payments in foreign countries. The company, which consented to a decree by the Securities and Exchange Commission, had disclosed at least $1.25 million previously unlisted in improper payments between 1963 and 1975 in more than a dozen countries, including Thailand, South Vietnam, and several South American countries. [New York Times] The Sunbelt-Snowbelt controversy has become an apparent national debate that threatens to divide Congress along regional lines. At the heart are the formulas used to distribute federal funds to states. It is a sort of economic war between the declining states of the Northeast and the Great Lakes crescent on one side and the ascending states of the South and Southwest on the other. Politicians and economists from throughout the country, meeting at the University of Texas, have found that prospects for alternatives to the continuing confrontation appear unlikely for months. [New York Times] President Carter told Edward Koch, the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York City, that he would campaign for him next Tuesday when Mr. Carter is here to address the United Nations General Assembly. Announcing this after a visit with Mr. Carter in the Oval Office, Mr. Koch, who represents Manhattan in Congress, said that Vice President Mondale had also offered to come to New York to campaign. [New York Times] Moscow is eager for progress on arms control, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko told the United Nations General Assembly. He also warned that "sermonizing" on human rights could impair Soviet-American relations. He later flew to Washington to see President Carter, saying afterwards there had been some narrowing of differences. [New York Times] Israel's Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan, said in an interview that two issues dealing with the Palestinians remained unresolved and were at the center of American efforts to convene a Middle East peace conference this year. The issues are: which Palestinians should be allowed to participate, and what role they should play. A major American diplomatic push is under way to overcome these and other procedural obstacles to Geneva. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 835.85 (-5.80, -0.69%)
S&P Composite: 95.24 (-0.14, -0.15%)
Arms Index: 1.22

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	617	6.37
Declines	701	8.82
Unchanged	541	3.89
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*
September 26, 1977	841.65	95.38	18.23
September 23, 1977	839.14	95.04	18.76
September 22, 1977	839.14	95.09	16.66
September 21, 1977	840.96	95.10	22.20
September 20, 1977	851.78	95.89	19.03
September 19, 1977	851.52	95.85	16.89
September 16, 1977	856.81	96.48	18.34
September 15, 1977	860.79	96.80	18.23
September 14, 1977	858.71	96.55	17.33
September 13, 1977	854.56	96.09	14.90