News stories from Friday December 28, 1979

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

The United States will defer its call for sanctions against Iran and instead will ask the Security Council of the United Nations to send Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to Teheran to seek the release of the American hostages. This proposal will be presented by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to the Security Council tomorrow. [New York Times] Hostages were taken In Tabriz by Ayatollah Khomeini's foes as fighting broke out again between Teheran's forces and Azerbaijani supporters of Ayatollah Kazem Shariat-Madari. At the same time, Iran's revolutionary leaders in Teheran denounced the Soviet-backed coup in Afghanistan as a "hostile act." [New York Times] Oil price rises of 10 to 15 percent were announced by several major exporting countries, and a new round of OPEC price increases appeared certain. The price rises announced by Venezuela, Libya, Indonesia and Iraq were higher than those posted before and during OPEC's meeting last week. [New York Times] President Carter will not meet his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination in a forum scheduled for Jan. 7 in Des Moines. In announcing his withdrawal, he said that he could not participate in a political event during the hostage crisis in Iran. He was to have participated in the forum with Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Gov. Jerry Brown of California. Mr. Carter's decision was based on advice from his foreign policy staff. [New York Times] Some Kennedy supporters are suing cabinet members and seven of President Carter's assistants, charging them with improperly using their government positions and public funds to advance the Carter campaign. [New York Times] Stricter air-traffic rules in the San Diego area were urged on the federal authorities by the National Transportation Safety Board after two near-collisions over San Diego last month. [New York Times] California's oil profits tax on major oil companies would be more than doubled if a proposal backed by a coalition of consumers and labor groups is approved. The proposal would impose a 10 percent surtax on the companies and the revenue would be used for mass transit. The coalition obtained enough signatures from California voters to have the proposal put on a statewide ballot next June 3. [New York Times] Both sides in the teachers' strike in Cleveland were ordered to meet with an advisory arbitrator in an effort to end the 72-day strike. The judge ordered that a court hearing on the dispute continue Monday and that the teachers and school board meet Saturday with a member of the American Arbitration Association. [New York Times] Youth employment programs will get substantially more money in President Carter's forthcoming budget, while public service employment levels will remain unchanged from the current budget, government officials said. The administration also is said to be preparing a "contingency budget" that would sharply increase spending on job programs under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. [New York Times] Extensive Soviet aid to Afghanistan has been promised, the country's new leaders announced. The Soviet Union reportedly has agreed to provide "urgent political, moral and economic aid, including military aid." The announcement over the official Kabul radio said the Soviet Union had responded to a request from Afghanistan.The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan "was a grave threat to peace," President Carter said. He said the Soviet backing of the coup that led to the death of President Hafizullah Amin was "a major matter of concern" to the world. The President also said that he had spoken by telephone to foreign leaders and was sending Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher to Europe to confer with allies on a response to the Soviet intervention. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 838.91 (-1.19, -0.14%)
S&P Composite: 107.84 (-0.12, -0.11%)
Arms Index: 0.80

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	743	16.05
Declines	739	12.82
Unchanged	486	5.56
Total Volume		34.43

* 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*
December 27, 1979	840.10	107.96	31.40
December 26, 1979	838.14	107.78	24.95
December 24, 1979	839.16	107.66	19.15
December 21, 1979	838.91	107.59	36.16
December 20, 1979	843.34	108.26	40.39
December 19, 1979	838.91	108.20	41.79
December 18, 1979	838.65	108.30	43.30
December 17, 1979	844.62	109.33	43.83
December 14, 1979	842.75	108.92	41.82
December 13, 1979	836.09	107.67	36.70