News stories from Monday January 17, 1977

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

Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer, got his wish and was executed by a firing squad at Utah State Prison. He was executed at 8:07 A.M. mountain standard time, after a hectic night in which state lawyers flew to Denver to overturn a last-minute stay of execution obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, an opponent of capital punishment. [New York Times] At least 24 American servicemen were killed in a collision between a Navy launch loaded with sailors and Marines and a freighter in Barcelona harbor. The launch was taking the men back to ships of the United States Sixth Fleet from weekend leave. The Navy reported that 30 men were injured and that 26 were unaccounted for, but it had not been determined if they were all on the launch. [New York Times] Frigid weather put a heavy drain on natural gas and electricity supplies and forced the closing of thousands of factories and offices across the Eastern half of the country. Several large gas distributors said they would cut off supplies to all industrial customers and warned of cuts for commercial users if the unusually cold weather continued. [New York Times] Subzero temperatures, shattering records, put an Arctic hammerlock on the New York metropolitan area. Schools were shut in some suburban areas and commuter travel was in a turmoil. One degree below zero was recorded in Central Park at 8:45 A.M., the lowest temperature on a Jan. 17 since weather record-keeping in New York City began in 1869. It broke a record of 5 degrees set in 1893. [New York Times] President Ford's last budget was sent to Congress. It embodies his conservative philosophy by proposing a slowdown in the growth rate of federal spending and a long-term policy of continuously declining income tax rates. Major changes by the Carter administration are certain. [New York Times] There were good gains in 1976 in industrial production and personal income, government reports said. Output of factories, mines and utilities rose by seven-tenths of 1 percent in December following an increase of almost 1.2 percent in November. This was taken as another indication that the pause in the economy has ended. Personal income rose to $19.3 billion, an increase of 1.4 percent. [New York Times] Reflecting a tightening of the money markets, the First National Bank of Chicago and the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company raised their prime lending rates back to 6¼ percent. A few weeks ago the banks had lowered the rate to 6 percent. [New York Times] Shipping problems, caused mainly by windy weather, held the Arabian American Oil Company's oil production in the first half of January to 80 percent of last year's output, an Aramco executive said. This has emphasized the uncertainty at the Dhahran headquarters of Aramco, which carries out almost all Saudi Arabia's oil production, about how fast and how far Saudi Arabia can and will increase its oil output in its efforts to hold back price increases. [New York Times] Stock prices declined in slower trading following the news that two big banks had raised their prime lending rates back to 6¼ percent from 6 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 4.91 points to 967.25, bringing its total loss since Jan 1 to 37.40 points. The credit markets, which have been moving toward lower prices and higher interest rates since the start of the new year, continued downward. One of the bright spots was three-month Treasury bills, sold at an average rate of 4.67 percent, up from 4.61 percent, their biggest rise since Nov. 15. [New York Times] Theodore Sorensen decided not to fight the opposition in the Senate to his nomination by President-elect Carter as Director of Central Intelligence. He told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he had asked the President-elect to withdraw the nomination. Mr. Carter accepted the decision with regret. [New York Times] France's President struck back at the "campaign of insult and vilification" against his country's release of Abu Daoud, suspected of organizing the 1972 killing of Israelis at the Munich Olympics by Palestinian terrorists. Valery Giscard d'Estaing said the basic responsibility was West Germany's since its representative in Paris, asked by the Foreign Ministry after the arrest what his government's intentions were, said he had neither information nor instructions. [New York Times] A trip to the Middle East next month is planned by Secretary of State-designate Cyrus Vance. Diplomatic and State Department sources say he will discuss ways of resuming peace efforts in the area and prepare for visits of Middle East leaders to Washington. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 967.25 (-4.91, -0.51%)
S&P Composite: 103.73 (-0.28, -0.27%)
Arms Index: 1.04

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	656	7.63
Declines	799	9.68
Unchanged	455	3.75
Total Volume		21.06

* 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*
January 14, 1977	972.16	104.01	24.48
January 13, 1977	976.15	104.20	24.78
January 12, 1977	968.25	103.40	22.67
January 11, 1977	976.65	104.12	24.10
January 10, 1977	986.87	105.20	20.86
January 7, 1977	983.13	105.01	21.72
January 6, 1977	979.89	105.02	23.92
January 5, 1977	978.06	104.76	25.01
January 4, 1977	987.87	105.70	22.74
January 3, 1977	999.75	107.00	21.28