News stories from Tuesday March 28, 1978

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

A 1.2 percent rise in food prices, particularly for meat, contributed to a 0.6 percent increase in the cost of living for urban Americans last month, the Labor Department reported. If the rise in the Consumer Price Index in January and February continued through 1978, the yearly rate would be 8.4 percent, and experts fear that inflation this year may be worse than the administration expected.The events that sent food costs up began on the range more than a year ago and have been accelerating since then. Consumer prices for beef, which rose most sharply in February, started rising last fall because cattle raisers had been reducing herds as a result of bad weather and a poor market. The cutback from the fall of 1975 to last January totaled 12 percent. At the same time, more animals were placed in feed yards rather than slaughtered because feed costs were low; thus more cattle were held off the market. [New York Times] The dollar fell again under heavy selling pressure, closing on the Tokyo foreign exchange market at a new postwar low at 225.02 yen. The rate represented a depreciation of 36.9 percent since 1971. The Bank of Japan intervened heavily, but with no other buyers, the bank bought more than $1 billion. [New York Times] Atlantic City officials expressed concern that they might not be ready to provide adequate police protection or cope with traffic jams and parking as the resort's first casino neared completion for opening, possibly by Memorial Day. An official said that chances were "slim" for getting 60 additional police and traffic officers he seeks to deal with the expected crush. [New York Times] Stock prices posted modest gains, The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.63 points to 758.84. The general market outpaced the Dow average, with advancers outnumbering declines by a 9 to 5 ratio. [New York Times] Soviet-American trade fell last year to $1.86 billion, 26.5 percent below the 1976 level, according to data collected by the United States commercial office in Moscow. Most of the decline was in American exports to the Soviet Union, which dropped from $2.3 billion in 1976 to $1.6 billion last year. [New York Times] Attitudes and ambitions that make for success or failure in life are largely determined before a boy reaches the late teens, according to an eight-year study of a national sample of more than 2,000 youths, The researchers found that high school and college may add certain knowledge and skills but did not significantly alter personal insights or outlook on life. [New York Times] Israel urged Egypt to resume direct contacts and to present a counterproposal to Israel's peace plan. Prime Minister Menachem Begin disclosed at a closed-door meeting of a Parliament committee that he had sent to President Anwar Sadat a two page letter urging a resumption of military and political peace talks. The letter was relayed to the Egyptian leader through American diplomatic channels. [New York Times] Venezuelans cheered President Carter when he made a short speech in Spanish to an enthusiastic crowd of thousands in Caracas, concluding with a rousing "Viva Venezuela!" Mr. Carter then conferred with Venezuelan leaders and two agreements were signed, one establishing maritime boundaries and the other providing for increased cooperation in curbing the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States. [New York Times] Soviet-American relations will deteriorate and world security will be endangered unless Washington stops vacillating and makes the tough political decisions needed to conclude a strategic arms limitation treaty, according to a leading Soviet specialist. The specialist, Georgi Arbatov, is one of the Kremlin's most trusted analysts of the United States. In a long article in Pravda, he made a grim analysis of Soviet-American relations. [New York Times] Oil companies are preparing for exploratory drilling off the coast of New Jersey; an Exxon ship is there now. The Interior Department opened bids for a possible oil and gas field off the Georgia coast. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 758.84 (+5.63, +0.75%)
S&P Composite: 89.50 (+0.63, +0.71%)
Arms Index: 0.54

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	909	14.44
Declines	504	4.36
Unchanged	457	2.80
Total Volume		21.60

* 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 27, 1978	753.21	88.87	18.87
March 23, 1978	756.50	89.36	21.29
March 22, 1978	757.54	89.47	21.95
March 21, 1978	762.82	89.79	24.41
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