News stories from Wednesday November 9, 1977

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

The Humphrey-Hawkins bill for full employment will have Carter administration support following agreement on the main issues, its sponsors said. Various sources said it would commit the government to achieving low unemployment rates but would not authorize specific programs to achieve them. A manpower specialist said the administration now viewed the bill as symbolic. [New York Times] Defeats for regular Democratic organizations were scored Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Raleigh and several smaller cities. The results pointed to the further erosion of the once-great power of the city machines and to the growing independence of the American voter. There was no substantial change in the position of the national parties nor any verdict on the Carter administration. Apart from Detroit's mayor, black candidates did not fare well, and the various referendums indicated a conservative trend. [New York Times] Federal Reserve brakes will be kept on the growth of the money supply according to its chairman, Arthur Burns, who is already under fire for his tight-money stance. This indicates a probable further tightening of short-term interest rates. Dr. Burns told the Senate Banking Committee of the Federal Reserve System's policies that sought "to undernourish and weaken inflation." He later told New York Times editors and reporters in Washington that reports of any confrontation between him and the Carter administration were a product of "journalistic imagination." [New York Times] Stock prices were generally up, with the Dow Jones industrial average posting a 2.16 point gain to close at 818.43 and advances on the New York Stock Exchange exceeding declines by a roughly 8 to 5 ratio. [New York Times] A drive to extend New Jersey's income tax was indicated in Trenton. The effort to eliminate the June 30 expiration date of the state levy began materializing following Governor Byrne's strong re-election victory. Richard Coffee, the state Democratic chairman, said he favored removing the expiration clause in the tax law before the end of the year so that school boards and municipalities could be sure of a continuation of specific state aid when charting their new budgets. [New York Times] Dieters were warned by the Food and Drug Administration that liquid protein food supplements can be extremely dangerous. Citing the deaths of 16 women who had been taking the compounds to lose weight, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs said his agency was asking the manufacturers to label them as hazardous under certain conditions. He said the agency had "every reason to believe that the diet was at least a contributing factor or a cause of deaths." [New York Times] The former head of REA Express Inc., the huge ground and air express service that went bankrupt in 1975, was indicted on embezzlement and conspiracy charges. Federal prosecutors said Tom Kole, who had acquired the former Railway Express Company with other investors in 1969, had diverted more than $100,000, partly to his horse racing ventures and for cash payments to politicians. Others indicted included Richard Simpson, a former vice president, who was alleged to have used some of the $100,000 to repay personal loans. [New York Times] Illegal tampering with mail since 1954 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was confirmed in the House of Commons in Ottawa by the solicitor General, contradicting frequent police denials. The opening and copying of personal mail is illegal under two statutes and postal regulations, he told Parliament. [New York Times] Israeli fighter-bombers attacked targets in and around Tyre in Southern Lebanon, and officials in Lebanon said two villages were leveled and at least 60 civilians were killed. Palestinian sources said three guerrillas had been killed in the raids. In Israel, military officials said the planes had been sent to strike at Palestinian guerrilla enclaves in reprisal for recent rocket attacks on the town of Nahariya. [New York Times] Egypt's President appealed to other Arab countries to unite behind Cairo's efforts for a new Middle East peace conference at Geneva. Addressing Egypt's Parliament, President Anwar Sadat said Israel was trying to provoke an Arab boycott of the conference by raising procedural issues, but he declared his own willingness to "go to the Israeli Parliament itself" to discuss it with them. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 818.43 (+2.16, +0.26%)
S&P Composite: 92.98 (+0.52, +0.56%)
Arms Index: 0.75

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	887	12.42
Declines	509	5.31
Unchanged	457	3.60
Total Volume		21.33

* 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*
November 8, 1977	816.27	92.46	19.21
November 7, 1977	816.44	92.29	21.27
November 4, 1977	809.94	91.58	21.70
November 3, 1977	802.67	90.76	18.09
November 2, 1977	800.85	90.71	20.76
November 1, 1977	806.91	91.35	17.17
October 31, 1977	818.35	92.34	17.07
October 28, 1977	822.68	92.61	18.05
October 27, 1977	818.61	92.34	21.92
October 26, 1977	813.41	92.10	24.86