News stories from Friday December 30, 1977

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

The government's index of leading economic indicators declined two-tenths of 1 percent in November, the first decline in five months. Government economists said the decline was too small to set a trend and predicted continued economic growth. November's decline followed moderate increases of six-tenths of 1 percent in September and eight-tenths of 1 percent in October. There are 10 indicators in the index, and half of these were lower in November. The money supply indicator had the sharpest drop. [New York Times] An irrational cycle in foreign exchange markets was responsible for the American dollar's decline abroad, Paul Volcker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told newsmen after a session on monetary policy on the last day of the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in New York. "The dollar has got to levels hard to justify by any of the normal tests," Mr. Volcker said. The comparative purchasing power of the strongest European currencies -- the West German mark and the Swiss franc -- were far out of line, but some decline in the dollar had been justified by "trade, oil and cyclical factors," he said.The dollar declined further against major European currencies, and monetary experts could not agree on whether it would rise or fall when the markets reopen after New Year's Day. "The dollar's depreciation is a chronic disease that's not going to stop," said a dealer at a major British bank. "Only a slight reversal is possible," he added. [New York Times] The stock market was listless on 1977's last trading day and there were few price changes, The Dow Jones industrial average closed up only 0.78 of a point to 831.17, down 17.2 percent from 1,004.65 on the last trading day of 1976, The New York Stock Exchange's total trading volume for 1977 was 5.4 billion shares, virtually unchanged from 1976. [New York Times] Americans and Poles have the same hopes for human rights, President Carter said at a news conference in Warsaw, but conceded that both nations and the Soviet Union are occasionally made uncomfortable by public discussions of their failure to guarantee them. "I don't think there is any doubt that the will of the Polish people for complete preservation and enhancement of human rights is the same as our own," he said. There were hints from White House sources that Mr. Carter was considering a meeting in Egypt with President Anwar Sadat, probably on Wednesday. [New York Times] Rosalynn Carter met in Warsaw with Poland's Roman Catholic primate, Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski. Mrs. Carter was accompanied by Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's national security adviser. Mr. Carter, meanwhile, was preparing for talks with Edward Gierek, the Polish Communist Party leader. He said the meeting with Cardinal Wyszynski was meant to express "our appreciation for the degree of freedom of worship in the country." The meeting with the Cardinal lasted 90 minutes. It was made possible, diplomats and Polish political sources said, by the recent improvement in relations between the government and the church. [New York Times] Egypt is eager to tell the United States that President Carter and his aides have failed to comprehend how fundamentally unacceptable is Prime Minister Menachem Begin's plan for limited self-rule for the Arabs on the West Bank. This, Egyptian officials said, is the message that President Anwar Sadat will give to Mr. Carter if a meeting can be arranged during Mr. Carter's tour. [New York Times] Cambodia broke diplomatic relations with Vietnam, accusing its former ally of "ferocious and barbarous aggression." The break was announced over the Phnom Penh radio in a Foreign Ministry statement that described the break as a "temporary" rupture in relations "until the aggressive forces of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam withdraw from the sacred territory of democratic Cambodia and until the friendly atmosphere between the countries is restored." [New York Times] South Korea agreed to permit Tongsun Park to return to the United States and testify at bribery and conspiracy trials stemming from the investigation of influence peddling in Congress. The Department of Justice issued a statement on "cooperation" under which Mr. Park would be interviewed in January by United States officials in Seoul under oath. If he later testified "truthfully" at trials in the United States, he would he given full immunity from past criminal acts. The department also agreed to dismiss all charges against him if he was found to be truthful. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 831.17 (+0.78, +0.09%)
S&P Composite: 95.10 (+0.16, +0.17%)
Arms Index: 0.82

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	813	11.47
Declines	653	7.51
Unchanged	442	4.58
Total Volume		23.56

* 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 29, 1977	830.39	94.94	23.61
December 28, 1977	829.70	94.75	19.63
December 27, 1977	829.70	94.69	16.75
December 23, 1977	829.87	94.69	20.08
December 22, 1977	821.81	93.80	28.10
December 21, 1977	813.93	93.05	24.51
December 20, 1977	806.22	92.50	23.25
December 19, 1977	807.95	92.69	21.15
December 16, 1977	815.32	93.40	20.27
December 15, 1977	817.83	93.55	21.61