News stories from Thursday June 8, 1978

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

The collapse of scaffolding at a power plant cooling tower building site at Willow Island, W. Va., resulted from willful or serious violations of safety rules by three companies, the federal government charged. An official said that the government's inquiry indicated that the accident in April in which 51 persons died could have been prevented by proper engineering practices. The safety agency called for penalties totaling $108,300 against the companies. [New York Times] Widespread waterfront corruption was charged by the federal government in the indictment in Miami of 22 persons, about half of them officials of the longshoremen's union. They were charged with conspiracy to control business activities in several Atlantic and Gulf coast ports, including New York. The men were accused of racketeering activity that included payoffs and intimidation. [New York Times] To help California's cities, counties and schools, Gov. Jerry Brown urged the legislature to give them the state's entire surplus of nearly $5 billion in the next fiscal year to offset the loss of $7 billion in property taxes approved by the voters on Tuesday. The initial response of the legislators was mixed. [New York Times] The Department of Energy filed a suit seeking repayment of $183.3 million from the Exxon Corporation in alleged overcharges on crude oil after the 1973 Arab oil embargo. A department source said that the suit was the result of an audit of Exxon covering the period from the oil embargo through 1976. The suit alleges Exxon violated provisions of the two-tier pricing system established. [New York Times] Harnessing ocean thermal energy is a long way off, according to a congressional agency that rejected proposals for a large increase in research funding to exploit such energy. A study found that conversion of ocean thermal energy "is not yet proven and probably could not become a viable part of the U.S. energy supply system in this century." [New York Times] The failure of the two pandas in the National Zoo to breed properly caused officials there to visit China to consult with experts on an explanation and possible remedies. The Chinese, who gave the two giant pandas to the United States in 1972, concluded that the two were too fat and too familiar with one another. [New York Times] New York City won a major victory as the House voted 247 to 155 in favor of 15-year loan guarantees totaling $2 billion to rescue and rehabilitate the city. The unexpected 92-vote margin was interpreted by New Yorkers and managers of the administration-backed bill as the "very serious message" they had hoped to be able to send to the Senate, where a parallel measure faces an uncertain future. [New York Times] Senator Clifford Case attributed his defeat in the New Jersey Republican primary to "the dissatisfaction of people with government" and "the failure of authority to deal with people's problems." The Senator said in an interview that his bid for a fifth term failed because "people are unhappy with Congress, the Senate, not with any one person. I was just the incumbent," he said. [New York Times] The sale of military-linked items to China is about to be approved by the Carter administration to help improve relations with Peking. Administration sources said that Washington had quietly agreed to sell airborne geological survey equipment that had potential military uses. The administration may also sell a device to detect oil or mineral deposits that is also used to detect submarines. [New York Times] Vietnam's economy is deteriorating, according to Western businessmen and economists. The country is plagued by agricultural shortages, mismanagement, corruption, widespread demoralization and a hobbled transportation system, they say. Vietnam is also at war with Cambodia and faces a confrontation with China. [New York Times] President Carter was urged to refrain from inflammatory language in verbal exchanges with the Soviet Union lest he endanger the prospect for Senate approval of a new strategic arms accord with Moscow. The suggestions were made by Senators George McGovern of South Dakota and Frank Church of Idaho. [New York Times] Moscow accused Washington of spying. The Soviet government charged that the American Embassy in Moscow had eavesdropped electronically on communication lines and said the equipment found recently in an Embassy shaft was designed only to combat the eavesdropping. [New York Times] French policy in Africa, which seeks to organize resistance to spreading Communist influence, has evoked a domestic political controversy as well as disagreement among France's Western allies. The emerging policy, one manifestation of which has been the dispatch of paratroops to protect Europeans in Zaire, is endorsed by conservatives and denounced by Communists as a new colonialism. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 862.09 (+0.17, +0.02%)
S&P Composite: 100.21 (+0.09, +0.09%)
Arms Index: 0.83

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	883	21.55
Declines	599	12.14
Unchanged	439	5.69
Total Volume		39.38

* 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*
June 7, 1978	861.92	100.12	33.06
June 6, 1978	866.51	100.32	51.98
June 5, 1978	863.83	99.95	39.59
June 2, 1978	847.54	98.14	31.86
June 1, 1978	840.70	97.35	28.75
May 31, 1978	840.61	97.24	29.07
May 30, 1978	834.20	96.86	21.04
May 26, 1978	831.69	96.58	21.41
May 25, 1978	835.41	96.80	28.41
May 24, 1978	837.92	97.08	31.46