News stories from Tuesday May 17, 1977

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

Israel's Labor Party lost in the elections for Parliament, with its seats in the 120-member body down from 51 to between 30 and 32. The right-of-center Likud bloc emerged after years of opposition as the largest single group with 40 to 44 seats, while the new Democratic Movement for Change, apparently siphoning off Labor Party votes, appeared assured of at least 15. Menachem Begin, leader of the Likud, said that he hoped to be able to form a government of national unity. [New York Times] The House adopted the budget resolution setting tentative spending ceilings for next year by 221 to 177, with significant Republican support helping offset defections by liberal Democrats. The Senate had earlier passed the measure with its projected deficit of $64.65 billion. [New York Times] President Carter toured California in what seemed like the style of a campaign frontrunner, delivering a spirited defense of his programs to an enthusiastic labor audience in Los Angeles and visiting farmland in the drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. The blitz was designed not just to explain his policies but enhance his popularity and extend his personal contacts. [New York Times] Japan will cut back exports of color television sets to the United States over the next three years by more than 40 percent under an agreement to be signed Friday in Washington, according to American and Japanese sources there. Sets in which American workers account for at least 40 percent of the labor costs will be exempted under the arrangement. [New York Times] Most General Motors car owners who are entitled to exchange their car or receive an insurance policy because their engines were produced by a different division have not made up their minds what to do, a company spokesman said. But most of those who have decided have chosen the insurance. [New York Times] Stock prices turned down on a revised estimate of steel earnings, then recovered and closed with Dow Jones industrials up to 936.48, a gain of 3.98 for the day. Wall Street analysts were cheered to note that the blue-chip barometer had moved up nearly 11 points in the last three Stock Exchange trading sessions. [New York Times] Slush funds for political contributions and other secret payments were formed by some American companies decades before the practice was exposed in the Watergate scandal, according to material made public from the files of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Data on nine companies released under the Freedom of Information Act showed, for example, that American Airlines ran an unrecorded fund in Mexico in the early 1940's, and that Ashland Oil made a corporate contribution to the presidential campaign fund of John Kennedy in 1960. [New York Times] Political contributions now being raised by groups representing corporations. business, professional associations and labor unions are the target of drives by the Republican and Democratic National Committees. They seek to tap this relatively new source of money to channel it where possible to close contests for governor, senator and representative. [New York Times] Both the Supreme Court and federal district courts, according to Chief Justice Warren Burger, have been devoting much of their time to cases involving questions of rights, including those of racial minorities, women, welfare recipients and the media. In addressing a legal group in Washington he appeared to rebut critics who say the Burger Court has reduced access to the federal courts. [New York Times] Blame for the accident that took five lives when a helicopter keeled over on the Pan Am Building heliport was pinpointed by federal investigators on metal fatigue that caused failure of a landing-gear brace. They called on the Federal Aviation Administration to order immediate inspection of that part on all other Sikorsky S-61 helicopters, pointing to at least one earlier instance of failure in that general area. It is doubted that the controversial service will resume. [New York Times] Governor Carey of New York said President Carter had broken a campaign promise to have the federal government take over the entire local share of welfare costs. He said he hoped to lead his fellow governors in a fight to convince Mr. Carter to keep his commitment. A similar demand came from Mayor Beame, who told the Senate Banking Committee that New York City could not afford to wait. [New York Times] Defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization approved a proposal of Defense Secretary Harold Brown to increase military spending to meet growing Soviet strength in Central Europe by a 3 percent boost in real spending above inflation. [New York Times] Leonid Brezhnev, speaking in Moscow on the eve of high-level Soviet-American negotiations in Geneva, reiterated his position that a treaty limiting offensive nuclear weapons should be based on his 1974 Vladivostok understanding with President Ford. The Soviet leader's position seemed to preclude early acceptance of President Carter's proposed cuts. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 936.48 (+3.98, +0.43%)
S&P Composite: 99.77 (+0.30, +0.30%)
Arms Index: 0.78

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	751	10.83
Declines	661	7.46
Unchanged	483	4.00
Total Volume		22.29

* 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*
May 16, 1977	932.50	99.47	21.17
May 13, 1977	928.34	99.03	19.78
May 12, 1977	925.54	98.73	21.98
May 11, 1977	926.90	98.78	18.98
May 10, 1977	936.14	99.47	21.09
May 9, 1977	933.90	99.18	15.23
May 6, 1977	936.74	99.49	19.37
May 5, 1977	943.44	100.11	23.45
May 4, 1977	940.72	99.96	23.33
May 3, 1977	934.19	99.43	21.95