News stories from Thursday May 4, 1978

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

Inflation trends worsened in April, led by a 1.3 percent increase in wholesale prices, which anticipate what consumers will pay in stores. The increase was the largest in nearly three and a half years, the Labor Department said. The rise was attributed to higher farm prices, especially for pork, fruits and vegetables and dairy products. Some wholesale prices of durable goods also increased, particularly in jewelry, which reflected higher gold prices. The overall increase is equivalent to an annual inflation rate of more than 15 percent. [New York Times] President Carter told lawyers meeting in Los Angeles that their profession had contributed heavily to unequal justice. At a meeting marking the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Bar Association, Mr. Carter also criticized white-collar criminals and the "comfortable insulation of privilege," through which "these big-shot crooks escape the full consequences of their acts." [New York Times] House members made public the most extensive disclosures yet of their personal finances, but the statements were so general that it seemed unlikely that many Congressmen would be politically embarrassed. The statements provided some insights into the financial holdings and outside interests of most House members, but there were no obvious instances of conflicts of interest or strong evidence that they had flagrantly used their position to swell their bank accounts. The House, however, wrote in provisions in the disclosure legislation last year that gave its members ways to avoid political damage. [New York Times] A rehearing of its approval of a $1.1 billion nuclear power plant at Sterling, N.Y., on Lake Ontario, was ordered by the New York State Siting Board. Five months after it approved the plant, the board asked whether the electricity was really needed. [New York Times] The stock market declined for the third day, absorbing sharp losses after a government report of a surge in wholesale prices in April raised fears of a worsening inflation. The market later overcame most of the losses and finished with a modest decline. The Dow Jones industrial average lost about 11 points in early trading, but closed at 824.41, with a loss of only 4.42 points. [New York Times] The Aluminum Company of America raised the price of its aluminum used in beer and soft drink cans by 3.4 percent. The new price, effective May 29, was set at 72.5 cents a pound and will be reflected in the cost of beverages at the retail level. This was the industry's fifth such increase in the last year and is expected to be a test of the voluntary restraints called for in the administration's anti-inflation drive. [New York Times] South African forces crossed from South-West Africa into neighboring Angola, the South African government announced, describing the movement as a "limited military operation" against guerrillas of the South-West African People's Organization. Defense Minister P. W. Botha said the attack was prompted by an intensifying campaign of murder, intimidation and property damage by guerrillas entering South-West Africa from Angola. He gave no details of his country's action, but the Angolan Defense Ministry said that the South Africans had started an airborne invasion of the town of Cassinga,155 miles north of the border. [New York Times] Leonid Brezhnev, on a visit to Bonn, called for intensive efforts toward arms reduction and denounced the possible deployment in Europe of neutron weapons. The Soviet leader appeared to be aiming his remarks, made in a speech at a state dinner in his honor, at West Germany, where neutron weapons, if developed, would be stationed. He went to Bonn for four days of talks on disarmament, detente and trade. He appeared to many onlookers to be in poor health when he arrived, but he seemed more at ease later. His visit was widely regarded as a sign of his determination to show that he is able to continue as leader during a crucial period of negotiations on arms limitations. [New York Times] The administration may be willing to compromise on its controversial "package" sale of military planes to the Middle East. It appeared, meanwhile, that the number of jets to be sold to Israel might be increased. Congressional sources said that the administration was considering a compromise under which Israel would get more planes than originally planned and was also weighing a plan that would assure use of the planes by Saudi Arabia only for defense. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 824.41 (-4.42, -0.53%)
S&P Composite: 95.93 (-0.33, -0.34%)
Arms Index: 0.70

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	692	18.26
Declines	774	14.21
Unchanged	426	5.05
Total Volume		37.52

* 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 3, 1978	828.83	96.26	37.60
May 2, 1978	840.18	97.25	41.40
May 1, 1978	844.33	97.67	37.02
April 28, 1978	837.32	96.83	32.85
April 27, 1978	826.92	95.86	35.47
April 26, 1978	836.97	96.82	44.45
April 25, 1978	833.59	96.64	55.80
April 24, 1978	826.06	95.77	34.52
April 21, 1978	812.80	94.34	31.54
April 20, 1978	814.54	94.54	43.23