News stories from Friday July 21, 1978

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

Postal workers reached agreement with the United States Postal Service on a three-year contract. Ratification prospects were good, union officials said. The tentative agreement would provide a 19.5 percent increase in wages and benefits over the contract's term, make permanent a recent cost-of-living increase and -- most important to the union members -- would preserve a no-layoff clause that provides job security. [New York Times] Hard bargaining with public employees may be ahead, if the rash of strikes by municipal workers and the threat of walkouts by postal union members is any indication. The reasons are inflation, running at 10 percent annually, which means that the public employees want big pay raises just to keep up, and a tougher attitude among government officials. [New York Times] Dr. Peter Bourne's comment that drugs are used by White House staff members could not be assessed for accuracy, the White House Press Secretary said. Dr. Bourne's statement that marijuana and cocaine were used by aides was made in connection with his resignation from the White House staff after he admitted writing a sedative prescription on which the recipient's name was falsified. Some White House staff members expressed resentment at inquiries into drug use by officials. [New York Times] A man killed by the police in Columbus, Ohio, as he drew a gun has been identified as a struggling mystery writer from New York City who decided to rob banks as research for his next book. He has positively been identified as Jack Drummond, 55, through photographs sent by family members, who had been notified when a New York area library card was found on him. [New York Times] Philadelphia's 19,500 unionized civilian employees approved a strike settlement that would offset the cost of a major pay increase through the layoffs of hundreds of city workers. The unexpectedly light vote was 6,670 for the settlement and 4,230 against. The terms included the union's consent to about 600 layoffs this month with no guarantee that hundreds more would not follow in August. [New York Times] The Senate approved, 71 to 1, a compromise bill to support health maintenance organizations, but slowed the Carter administration's plans to expand such programs. [New York Times] Three terrorists were hunted in the United States and Canada, suspected of being accomplices of a 27-year-old West German radical arrested Sunday as she illegally entered the United States from Canada. Kristina Berster, a native of Dusseldorf, was identified by the West German Embassy, however, as a terrorist affiliated with the Baader-Meinhof group, but not as a member. [New York Times] President Hugo Banzer of Bolivia resigned and Juan Pereda took power after staging a rebellion. President Banzer, who took power seven years ago, turned the government over to a three-man junta which later turned over the power to General Pereda when he arrived in the capital from Santa Cruz, the center of the revolt. [New York Times] South Africa will discipline policemen in Port Elizabeth, the unit involved in the deaths of three blacks in the last 19 months, including that of Stephen Biko. The announcement was made within 24 hours of two more incidents involving alleged police brutality. [New York Times] Africans ended talks in Khartoum with a call for non-alignment. There was no agreement on what to do about foreign military intervention, but the African heads of state at the Organization for African Unity meeting were prepared to adopt a compromise resolution on intervention to avoid widening the group's divisiveness. [New York Times] Terrorists killed a Spanish general and his aide. Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez said the slayings were an attempt to provoke the army and police. The killers, believed to be left-wing extremists, jumped from a stolen taxi and shot Gen. Juan Sanchez Ramos, 64 years old, and his aide, Col. Juan Perez Rodriguez, 59. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 833.42 (-5.20, -0.62%)
S&P Composite: 97.75 (-0.28, -0.29%)
Arms Index: 1.26

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	577	7.71
Declines	868	14.65
Unchanged	443	3.72
Total Volume		26.08

* 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*
July 20, 1978	838.62	98.03	33.34
July 19, 1978	840.70	98.12	30.85
July 18, 1978	829.00	96.87	22.86
July 17, 1978	839.05	97.78	29.18
July 14, 1978	839.83	97.58	28.37
July 13, 1978	824.76	96.25	23.62
July 12, 1978	824.93	96.24	26.64
July 11, 1978	821.29	95.93	27.47
July 10, 1978	816.79	95.27	22.47
July 7, 1978	812.46	94.89	23.49