News stories from Wednesday May 17, 1978

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

"Gambling" began in Atlantic City in a dry-run operation with fake money and no real winning or losing. The event was the prelude to actual gambling at the Resorts International Hotel, which is expected to open for real bettors on May 26. Those invited to the practice operation included hotel employees and guests and casino workers. [New York Times] A $498.8 billion budget target cleared Congress when the House narrowly adopted a compromise plan previously approved by the Senate. The measure, which sets a spending goal for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, but is not binding, calls for a target $1.4 billion less than requested by President Carter. [New York Times] Seeking to attract Jewish voters, Republican leaders urged Senate Republicans to oppose President Carter's Middle East fighter plane sales package. Bill Brock, the national chairman, contended that the sales would disturb the Middle East, and Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon, the Senate campaign chief, said that appeasing Saudi Arabia amounted to "caving in to energy at the expense of integrity." But both noted that the party had a chance to make gains among traditionally Democratic Jewish voters and campaign donors. [New York Times] No Social Security tax cut is likely this year. The House Ways and Means Committee, reversing itself, rejected a bill to reduce the taxes in 1979 and 1980 by a vote of 21 to 16. Also, the Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts, expressed opposition to trying again. [New York Times] Alabama politicians began battling for power after Gov. George Wallace announced his withdrawal from the United States Senate race, an action regarded as tantamount to his retirement after 16 years of dominating the state's politics. Mr. Wallace refused repeatedly to explain his reason for withdrawing, but denied that failing health forced him to do so. [New York Times] Charlie Chaplin's body was recovered in a cornfield about 10 miles from the Swiss village cemetery where it was stolen 11 weeks ago. The authorities said that two East Europeans were arrested and confessed. [New York Times] Dominican troops halted vote counting in a national election that was apparently going against President Joaquin Balaguer. The opposition candidate, Antonio Guzman, was said to be far ahead when members of the armed forces and the police took control of the election center before dawn. The official tally reportedly vanished, along with election supervisors. Rumors of a coup were denied in a military announcement. [New York Times] Palermo and Bologna are at opposite ends of the Italian mosaic -- socially, politically, economically and temperamentally. Palermo is mainly Christian Democratic and ill-managed; Bologna is Communist and well-managed. But despite wide differences, both feel the impact of the deepening Italian crisis. People in both cities say they feel a new sense of unity and hope in the national reaction to the killing of Aldo Moro. But many residents also express contempt for a "national government that does not govern." [New York Times] Political opposition in Iran is rising. After recent rioting in major cities, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi faces the strongest challenge to his rule in 15 years. The Shah, apparently not worried, flew to Bulgaria Monday for a state visit, but many of his backers are concerned, despite his well-equipped army and security forces. [New York Times] Broad Vietnamese-Cambodian clashes have erupted along the border, according to Western sources. Both sides have introduced more advanced weapons and equipment in accelerating the pace of their attacks. [New York Times] Witnesses disputed Rhodesian government accounts of the deaths of civilians at a rural meeting Sunday, saying 94 persons had died, not 50. The witnesses, blacks who said they attended the meeting, said there 14 been only one armed guerrilla at the meeting, and that there had been no firing except by government troops. The government had said the civilians were caught in a crossfire between its forces and guerrillas. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 858.37 (+4.07, +0.48%)
S&P Composite: 99.60 (+0.25, +0.25%)
Arms Index: 0.78

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	793	24.24
Declines	684	16.33
Unchanged	428	4.92
Total Volume		45.49

* 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, 1978	854.30	99.35	48.17
May 15, 1978	846.76	98.76	33.93
May 12, 1978	840.70	98.07	46.60
May 11, 1978	834.20	97.20	36.64
May 10, 1978	822.16	95.92	33.33
May 9, 1978	822.07	95.90	30.86
May 8, 1978	824.58	96.19	34.68
May 5, 1978	829.09	96.53	42.68
May 4, 1978	824.41	95.93	37.52
May 3, 1978	828.83	96.26	37.60