News stories from Wednesday October 4, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Pope John Paul I was buried after an outdoor funeral mass in the rain attended by more than 50,000 persons. The Pope's body, in a plain coffin of cypress, rested on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica before an altar erected three hours earlier, Then the body was carried inside, placed in a triple coffin, and buried near the tomb of his predecessor, Pope Paul VI.
American tourists standing in rainy St. Peter's Square on Wednesday afternoon for Pope John Paul I's funeral service seemed a different breed than those who, two months ago, attended rites for Pope Paul VI. The Americans appeared to be there out of curiosity rather than mourning. Said one woman: "We really didn't have much time to know much about him, did we?"
[Chicago Tribune] - The Senate narrowly rejected a proposal to let states rescind their past approval of the Equal Rights Amendment, The Senate action clears the way for extension of the E.R.A. ratification deadline. The vote was 54 to 44. [Chicago Tribune]
- A masked man abducted country singer Tammy Wynette from a shopping center, tried to strangle her with panty hose, and kicked her out of her Cadillac 80 miles away. Authorities said the kidnapper apparently fled in a blue station wagon with an accomplice. A spokesman for Giles County Hospital in Pulaski, Tenn. said Miss Wynette, 36, was treated for cuts and bruises and was admitted overnight. [Chicago Tribune]
- If President Carter decides to grant clemency to Patricia Hearst, his nephew hopes the President doesn't forget him. The nephew, William Carter Spann, an inmate at the California Medical facility at Vacaville, sent a letter to a Sacramento television station to make his plea. Spann, who has served three years of a 10-year-to-life sentence for robbing a San Francisco bar of $360, said, "Since I didn't rob a bank, but a bar, and since I didn't fire any shots, I hope my Uncle Jimmy will be so kind as to pardon me along with Ms. Hearst. Fair is fair -- or is it?" [Chicago Tribune]
- The stock market staged a late rally, but the U.S, dollar sank to new lows against major European currencies while gold soared to a new high of $222.50 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 6.06 higher at 873.96.
The big four domestic automakers sold 9,256,808 million cars in the 1978 model year that ended Sept. 30, a level second only to the record 10.01 million in the 1973 model year. General Motors Corp.'s sales paced the industry, topping its previous sales high set in 1973.
[Chicago Tribune] - An estimated 4 million to 6 million American mothers and their offspring may face risks of cancer or other abnormalities from exposure to the synthetic estrogen DES during pregnancy, H.E.W. Secretary Joseph Califano said. At the same time, Califano said a task force of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has concluded that the risk of a rare vaginal cancer In daughters of women who took the drug was not as high as originally feared. [Chicago Tribune]
- The State Department announced it is allowing Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith to visit the United States in hopes it will contribute to a settlement of his country's six-year-old civil war. Visas were approved for Smith and his three black allies on Rhodesia's ruling Executive Council, after the administration pondered the propriety of approving visa applications from leaders of a regime that the United Nations regards as illegal. [Chicago Tribune]
- The F.B.I. charged three men with conspiring to steal a nuclear submarine, Agents said the bizarre plan included the possibility of firing nuclear missiles at a city on the East Coast. Two of the suspects were in custody and the third was being sought. [Chicago Tribune]
- In Beirut, the battle between Syrian forces and Christian rightist militia reduced much of Lebanon's capital to blackened rubble. The presidential palace was shelled. A burning oil storage tank sent thick black smoke over the city for the second day. The right-wing Phalangist radio said about 650 persons were killed in a 24-hour period. [Chicago Tribune]
- The Turkish government announced it will reopen four United States military bases closed in 1975 in retaliation for an American arms embargo. The embargo, imposed after Turkish troops invaded Cyprus, was lifted last week. Reopening of the bases clears the way for the U.S. to resume close-in electronic spying on the Soviet Union. A fifth base will be turned over to Turkey. [Chicago Tribune]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 873.96 (+6.06, +0.70%)
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* |
| October 3, 1978 | 867.90 | 102.60 | 22.54 |
| October 2, 1978 | 871.36 | 102.96 | 18.52 |
| September 29, 1978 | 865.82 | 102.54 | 23.62 |
| September 28, 1978 | 861.31 | 101.96 | 24.33 |
| September 27, 1978 | 860.19 | 101.66 | 28.37 |
| September 26, 1978 | 868.16 | 102.62 | 26.33 |
| September 25, 1978 | 862.35 | 101.86 | 20.97 |
| September 22, 1978 | 862.44 | 101.84 | 27.96 |
| September 21, 1978 | 861.14 | 101.90 | 33.65 |
| September 20, 1978 | 857.16 | 101.73 | 35.08 |