News stories from Wednesday December 7, 1977

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

A joint resolution on abortion was voted by the House and the Senate in a compromise that ended a five-month impasse that had held up appropriations for two major departments. The compromise liberalizes current law by permitting the use of Medicaid funds for abortions for physically ill women and for certain medical procedures to avert pregnancy for some victims of incest and rape. [New York Times] Evidence from F.B.I. files showed that J. Edgar Hoover was convinced two weeks after the death of President Kennedy that Lee Harvey Oswald had killed him but wondered whether secret conspirators in Cuba had helped Oswald. Material examined so far does not contradict the official finding that Oswald acted alone. [New York Times] The dollar continued to sag on world currency market, flirting with new lows against the West German mark and Swiss franc. London traders ascribed its weakness to American failure to produce an energy policy. There were more warnings in Europe that the dollar's year-long slide threatened the recovery from recession. [New York Times] Stock prices steadied after Tuesday's sharp decline. The Dow Jones industrial average edged ahead by 0.52 to 807.43 points, although most issues showed a modest decline. [New York Times] A tax on "gas guzzlers" won tentative agreement from House and Senate conferees to start with 1978 model cars. It is conditional on rejection by another group of conferees of a ban on high-mileage automobiles starting in 1980, which the conference leaders expect. Administration officials, although plainly pleased with the victory, withheld comment pending action by the other conferees. [New York Times] Spending by businesses on plant and equipment was higher last summer than in any quarter since 1973, the Commerce Department said, but businesses expect capital spending to shrink through mid-1978. The Federal Reserve reported a sharp increase in demand for consumer credit, a strong indicator of consumer confidence. [New York Times] The Supreme Court decided narrowly in a 5-4 ruling that federal courts may order a telephone company to install surveillance equipment in a criminal investigation on the basis of evidence no stronger than what is needed for an ordinary search warrant. The minority said in an unusually sharp dissent that this was a dangerous first step toward accretion of arbitrary police powers in the federal courts. [New York Times] Retaliating against foreign critics of its peace initiatives, Egypt closed down the cultural centers and some consulates of the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The announcement in Parliament by Prime Minister Mamdouh Salem drew prolonged applause. The move appeared to decrease prospects for Moscow's cooperation in the confusing new peace process. [New York Times] In New York City, Egypt's Ambassador to the United States, Ashraf Ghorbal, addressed the Synagogue Council of America in the first speech by an Arab ambassador to a Jewish group in this country. He said peace in the Middle East rested on a formula that would guarantee security to Israel, a separate state for Palestinians and surrender by Israel of all occupied lands. [New York Times] Rumania's President urged austerity and sacrifice for eight more years on his people to raise the country to the ranks of the developed nations. Nicolae Ceausescu told a national conference of the Communist Party that building up industry would be the principal effort, with consumers having to wait for substantial improvements in living standards. He proposed orthodox Communist measures but also affirmed his position of independence from the Soviet Union by urging negotiations among all parties in the Middle East and by supporting the independent-minded Western parties. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 807.43 (+0.52, +0.06%)
S&P Composite: 92.78 (-0.05, -0.05%)
Arms Index: 0.90

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	579	7.50
Declines	821	9.52
Unchanged	509	4.03
Total Volume		21.05

* 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*
December 6, 1977	806.91	92.83	23.77
December 5, 1977	821.03	94.27	19.16
December 2, 1977	823.98	94.67	21.16
December 1, 1977	825.71	94.69	24.22
November 30, 1977	829.70	94.83	22.67
November 29, 1977	827.27	94.55	22.95
November 28, 1977	839.57	96.04	21.57
November 25, 1977	844.42	96.69	17.91
November 23, 1977	843.30	96.49	29.15
November 22, 1977	842.52	96.09	28.30