News stories from Monday July 31, 1978

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

A stringent anti-abortion law believed to be the most wide-ranging in the country has been approved in Louisiana. The action was hardly noticed by most citizens in the state. If upheld after likely court challenges, the law is expected to inhibit many women from seeking abortions and doctors from performing them. [New York Times] Middle-income taxpayers are unhappy with what they see as a staggering tax load aggravated by government waste. The result, according to recent polls and interviews, is a growing disenchantment with taxes that has touched off a political competition among Democrats and Republicans to sponsor tax-cutting reforms. [New York Times] A federal judge set racial quotas in ordering Bridgeport, Conn., to hire 84 black and Hispanic applicants who had failed an invalidated exam for firefighter. In the first judicial "remedy order" in a racial discrimination case since the controversial Bakke decision, the judge told Bridgeport to hire one black or Hispanic for every new white until 125 of the city's 450 firefighters are minority members. [New York Times] The cost-of-living adjustment in labor contracts, which is designed to protect workers' pay from inflation, is also making inflation harder to control. With inflation now rising above 11 percent, unions are likely to demand more generous living-cost clauses. Federal economists believe that the clauses are probably a better approach to protecting wages than the alternative of massive fixed-wage settlements. [New York Times] An important telescope site is being developed by astronomers atop Mount Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the highest island mountain on earth. The telescopes, some already operating, will explore the farthest observable reaches of the universe and study such targets as the atmospheres of moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn in ways previously impossible. [New York Times] Black votes for Republicans is the goal of a new G.O.P. effort in the South to replace decades of neglect with active courtship of black voters. The new policy Is reflected by the payment of more than $800,000 to a black-owned Georgia consulting firm, which will use most of it to assist white Republicans in a section where there are few black Republican candidates. [New York Times] Pat for President? Not this one, said Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who dismissed a recently published suggestion that he would be a natural centrist candidate against President Carter in 1980. But in ruling out a race of his own, the New York Democrat criticized President Carter and suggested that a real challenge might come from California's Governor Jerry Brown, also known as Pat. [New York Times] Movies are booming. People are going to them this summer so frequently and in such numbers that the studios are giddy with surprise and success. Major hits include "Jaws 2," "Grease," "Heaven Can Wait," "Saturday Night Fever," "Revenge of the Pink Panther," "The Cheap Detective" and "Star Wars." [New York Times] Washington rebuked President Sadat publicly for the first time since the Egyptian began his peace initiative in November. The United States said it was "very disappointed" at his seeming rejection of an American proposal for a foreign ministers' meeting with Israel. President Carter, at a meeting with top aides, also reportedly expressed concern over the hard line adopted by Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel. [New York Times] Lebanese army units advanced into the southern part of the country and took up positions beside United Nations troops, but failed to reach their destination because of opposition by Israeli-backed Christian militiamen. [New York Times] A gunman shot his way into the Iraqi Embassy in Paris, held hostages through most of the day and then was wounded by Iraqi security officials as he was led away by French policemen after surrendering. The shots by the Iraqi security officers killed a French police inspector and wounded two officers. The French police shot back, killing one security officer and wounding another. An Arab League official was also wounded in the gunfight. [New York Times] South Africa withheld approval of the United Nations' plan for black majority rule in South-West Africa after a day-long cabinet meeting in Pretoria. The government suggested instead that a special United Nations representative visit the territory and prepare a report on how he intends to carry out the plan, which would make the territory independent as the nation of Namibia next year. [New York Times] A successful Rhodesian assault against rebel guerrilla bases in Mozambique was announced in Salisbury, where the government said it had put 10 guerrilla bases out of action. [New York Times] Chaos overcame Europe's airports as a slowdown of French air traffic controllers continued, delaying flights of hundreds of thousands of travelers who jammed the airports. The situation was made worse by many American and Canadian passengers who fought for standby flights home. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 862.27 (+5.98, +0.70%)
S&P Composite: 100.68 (+0.68, +0.68%)
Arms Index: 0.60

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,081	22.66
Declines	478	6.04
Unchanged	368	5.29
Total Volume		33.99

* 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 28, 1978	856.29	100.00	33.31
July 27, 1978	850.57	99.54	33.97
July 26, 1978	847.19	99.08	36.82
July 25, 1978	839.57	98.44	25.40
July 24, 1978	831.60	97.72	23.27
July 21, 1978	833.42	97.75	26.07
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