News stories from Tuesday March 21, 1978

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

Bills to raise farm subsidies and price support loans on grains and cotton gained speedy Senate approval, even though they would push up market prices and cost the Treasury at least $2 billion this year. The action was a challenge to President Carter's efforts to check federal expenditures and inflationary pressures. [New York Times] J. Edgar Hoover, the late director of the F.B.I., sent three warnings each to John Mitchell, then the Attorney General, and President Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, that South Korean agents were on congressional staffs, paid Representatives and gave money to the Democratic Party, congressional documents show. Appearing before a House panel, Mr. Mitchell said he received the first memo and informed Speaker Carl Albert of it but that he never saw two other Hoover memos sent to him. [New York Times] The broadcast industry's easy relations with Washington regulators are over. Recent actions by the Federal Communications and Trade Commissions herald a period of tough regulation in a reformist climate. Broadcasters ascribe the change to President Carter's appointment of consumer-oriented chairmen of the two agencies and the subsequent selection of public-interest lawyers for key staff positions. [New York Times] The Dow Jones industrials fell 11 points to 762.82 as the stock market retreated sharply after recent strength. [New York Times] Citing textile union pressure, the chairman of Avon Products, David Mitchell, resigned from the board of J. P. Stevens & Company. Officials of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union said their next targets would be the New York Life Insurance Company and the Seamen's Bank for Savings, whose chairmen also sit on the Stevens board. [New York Times] The Olin Corporation was permitted by a federal judge to plead no contest to a government indictment charging that it had conspired illegally to ship arms to South Africa. The plea, which the judge noted was tantamount to an admission of guilt, drew strong protests from the prosecutor. [New York Times] Britain, in its plan for using oil revenues from the North Sea, said it would give top priority to reviving the country's aging industrial plant. A 21-page policy statement also said that the oil revenues should be used to cut personal taxes, increase public spending, conserve energy and develop new energy sources. But London's Labor government warned that "there must be no short-term spending spree." [New York Times] An Israeli cease-fire in southern Lebanon was ordered by Defense Minister Ezer Weizman following a day of diminished fighting. The end of the week-long Israeli assault was expected to be followed by steps to abide by the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Mr. Weizman met with the Finnish commander of U.N. forces in the Middle East, who also held talks with Lebanese officials. [New York Times] The impasse in the Middle East negotiations calls for "historic decisions," President Carter told Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at a White House meeting. Mr.. Begin appeared to remain firm on most issues dividing Israel and the United States throughout the day, in which he also ran into serious questioning on Capitol Hill when he sought House and Senate support for his positions. [New York Times] The P.L.O. avoided a clear response to Israel's cease-fire declaration in southern Lebanon. A spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization demanded "unconditional withdrawal" by Israel and suggested the truce might be a maneuver. [New York Times] Three prominent black Rhodesians were sworn in as co-leaders of the transitional regime that is to pave the way for a fully-black government in Salisbury by Dec. 31. The ceremony at Prime Minister Ian Smith's residence left ultimate power in white hands for now. But Mr. Smith, who remains in office, repeatedly stated that executive power would henceforth be equally shared. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 762.82 (-11.00, -1.42%)
S&P Composite: 89.79 (-1.03, -1.13%)
Arms Index: 1.63

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	491	5.07
Declines	932	15.70
Unchanged	452	3.64
Total Volume		24.41

* 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*
March 20, 1978	773.82	90.82	28.36
March 17, 1978	768.71	90.20	28.47
March 16, 1978	762.82	89.51	25.41
March 15, 1978	758.58	89.12	23.33
March 14, 1978	762.56	89.35	24.30
March 13, 1978	759.96	88.95	24.07
March 10, 1978	758.58	88.88	27.09
March 9, 1978	750.00	87.89	21.82
March 8, 1978	750.87	87.84	22.04
March 7, 1978	746.79	87.36	19.90