News stories from Wednesday May 24, 1978

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

President Carter has been urged by his closest political advisers to tour the nation more to bolster his sagging image in public opinion polls. [New York Times] Tom McCall was defeated in a comeback attempt to run for a third term as Governor of Oregon. Gov. Robert Straub, a Democrat, will face state Senator Victor Atiyeh, Republican, in the general election. In Eugene, voters repealed by a 2 to 1 margin a city ordinance that had protected homosexuals from discrimination. [New York Times] Aid for all major New York and New Jersey cities, as well as one-third of the nation's communities, has been devised under a formula for President Carter's urban assistance program. But because the remaining two-thirds are excluded, the program apparent faces major hurdles in Congress. Administration officials said the plan was "reasonably balanced between cities and rural areas, but with an urban tilt." [New York Times] Navy backers won a major victory. The House defeated efforts to cut an authorization for construction of a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, then passed a $38 billion military procurement and research bill by a vote of 319 to 67. Attempts to substitute a conventionally powered carrier for the nuclear-powered ship also failed. The $38 billion bill also calls for developing other naval vessels and new planes, tanks, guns and missiles. [New York Times] The MX mobile missile Is opposed by White House budget officials, administration sources said. They added that the officials had sent a memo to the Pentagon proposing that an Air Force request for $580 million to begin full-scale development of the intercontinental missile next year be halved and that plans to build a prototype be shelved for the present. [New York Times] To help prevent conflicts, the United States is ready to provide electronic early-warning systems to other countries, Vice President Mondale announced. Mr. Mondale said these stations, similar to those placed in Sinai between Egyptian and Israeli troops in 1975, could serve as the "eyes and ears of peace." He spoke at the special disarmament session of the United Nations General Assembly attended by 150 countries. [New York Times] An all-African peacekeeping force with logistical support from the European Economic Community was urged by Belgium to protect the rich copper mines of Shaba Province in Zaire against any new attacks by Angola-based insurgents. Prime Minister Leo Tindemans hinted after a talk with President Mobuto Sese Seko that the leader of Zaire might have asked Belgium and France to keep their military units in Shaba until such a pan-African force could be organized.In the aftermath of battle the stench of death pervades the airport at Kolwezi, littered with the remains of burned planes and helicopters. But it is not until a visitor reaches the town eight miles away that the horror becomes most vivid, with corpses strewn along deserted streets. [New York Times] A gunfight erupted in Moscow after a man holding a shotgun entered the office of the Finnish airline, seized two Soviet hostages and demanded a plane to fly him out of the country. The police exchanged shots with him, drove him from the office with tear gas and arrested him. [New York Times] A Soviet defector's wife asked for an inquiry into disclosures that have led her to suspect her husband's life may have been sacrificed needlessly by the Central Intelligence Agency in a counterintelligence operation. In her appeal to President Carter and a Senate panel, Eva Shadrin said that since her husband vanished in 1975 she had received information contradicting official American versions of the case. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 837.92 (-7.37, -0.87%)
S&P Composite: 97.08 (-0.97, -0.99%)
Arms Index: 1.02

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	323	5.88
Declines	1,230	22.75
Unchanged	351	2.82
Total Volume		31.45

* 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 23, 1978	845.29	98.05	33.23
May 22, 1978	855.42	99.09	28.68
May 19, 1978	846.85	98.12	34.36
May 18, 1978	850.92	98.62	42.27
May 17, 1978	858.37	99.60	45.49
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