News stories from Tuesday January 31, 1978

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

The new urban policy pledged by President Carter appears to be snagged in a complex web of conflicting political and economic demands. The urban package is due to be announced by March 15, but work on it will be hampered by extreme constraints imposed by Mr. Carter's seemingly conflicting promises -- to run a tight financial ship and to aid the black and urban voters who supported him so strongly in his bid for the presidency. The White House is increasingly concerned that a policy favoring the older Northern cities will fail because of opposition by strong Western and Southern members of Congress. [New York Times] Steel industry problems continue. The United States Steel Corporation cut its dividend and reported that earnings in the latest quarter had plummeted 89 percent from the year-earlier level. The nation's largest steel producer also said that earnings for all of 1977 totaled $137.9 million, or $1.66 a share, down 66 percent from 1976 and the lowest in 30 years. [New York Times] Stock prices finished moderately lower after an advance was halted by the dividend cut by the United States Steel Corporation. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 769.92 with a loss of 2.52 points. [New York Times] A strong economy is probable in the months ahead, the government said in announcing that its index designed to signal future economic trends increased in December by a substantial seven-tenths of 1 percent. [New York Times] The sale of oil and natural gas leases off the coast of Massachusetts is likely to be delayed for several months as the result of a court ruling Monday in Boston, according to federal officials. The state, which won the ruling forcing cancellation of the sale scheduled for today, is insisting that safeguards be instituted to protect the rich fishing area of the Georges Bank off Cape Cod before leases are granted. [New York Times] The Japanese are being courted by Southern industry hunters with success. An economist's analysis disclosed that the South gained about 29 percent of all announced foreign manufacturing investment from 1968 to 1976. When Jimmy Carter was Governor of Georgia he knelt in his executive office in an elaborate Japanese tea ceremony in honor of a representative of Japan's $30-billion-a-year Mitsubishi Corporation. [New York Times] A quirk in the pension law has resulted in a government employee getting a very high income. Joseph Califano's administrative officer, who is also his security coordinator, gets $78,225 a year, completely legally. The official, Thomas Johns, earns $47,025 in his jobs for Mr. Califano, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. He also receives monthly pension checks that total $31,200 a year for his 21 years with the Secret Service, including a stint as President Johnson's chief bodyguard, according to pension system officials. [New York Times] Three new Israeli military outposts that are to become civilian settlements have been set up recently on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River. An independent Jerusalem newspaper reported that the outposts in the West Bank had been approved by the Israeli government and would soon gain civilian status, entitling them to government aid to speed their development. The action is expected to raise new controversy. [New York Times] Israel and Egypt resumed talks on the military level in Cairo in the first formal contacts between the two countries since the breakdown of political negotiations in Jerusalem 13 days ago. But leading officials on both sides expected little progress in the Military Committee negotiations before President Anwar Sadat of Egypt completed his coming visit to the United States and five other countries. [New York Times] Charges of spying for Communist Vietnam were made against a United States Information Agency official and a Vietnamese, a son of the "peace candidate" in the 1967 election against President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam. The two men who were charged by a federal grand jury were arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The two are Ronald Humphrey, who once served in South Vietnam for the information agency, and Truong Dinh Hung, the son of Truong Dinh Dzu, who, after his election defeat, was jailed five years on charges of seeking negotiations with the Viet Cong. [New York Times] Standardizing of Western arms made a major advance when the Army announced that a West German gun had been chosen over British and American weapons for use on the new American battle tank by the mid-1980's. The decision requires congressional approval. Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander told newsmen that the German 120-millimeter gun would probably be placed on the XM-1 tank starting in 1984. He called the gun superior to an American 105-millimeter gun against advanced armor. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 769.92 (-2.52, -0.33%)
S&P Composite: 89.25 (-0.09, -0.10%)
Arms Index: 1.16

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	689	7.69
Declines	676	8.73
Unchanged	480	3.45
Total Volume		19.87

* 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*
January 30, 1978	772.44	89.34	17.40
January 27, 1978	764.12	88.58	17.60
January 26, 1978	763.34	88.58	19.60
January 25, 1978	772.44	89.39	18.69
January 24, 1978	771.57	89.25	18.69
January 23, 1978	770.70	89.24	19.38
January 20, 1978	776.94	89.89	7.58
January 19, 1978	778.67	90.09	21.50
January 18, 1978	786.30	90.56	21.39
January 17, 1978	779.02	89.88	19.36