News stories from Thursday May 24, 1979

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

Diesel fuel supplies have dropped sharply in this country and prices are soaring. The shortage is so critical that the Energy Department has started to establish priority uses. Businesses predict that farm produce may rot, supplies of coal and oil may be halted and that layoffs will increase if corrective action is not taken soon.Proof that there is a shortage of gasoline and oil should be presented to the nation by President Carter, members of Congress said. Meanwhile, the Energy Department prepared new regulations intended to encourage home heating oil imports. [New York Times] Travelers feared gasoline shortages as millions began streaming out for the Memorial Day weekend. The supply situation around the country remained mixed, and gasoline in the New York City region was generally tight. Some public transit lines braced for unusually heavy use, and resorts situated within "a tankful of gas," as many advertised, reported sellout bookings. [New York Times] A nuclear reactor flaw was known by government experts to exist more than a year before the key engineering flaw played a critical part in the March 28 accident at the generating plant near Harrisburg, Pa., according to a report obtained by a House committee. Despite this knowledge, the government experts did not recommend any changes to correct the problem, the panel's chairman said. [New York Times] A tentative budget narrowly passed in the House, but disputes over spending priorities that marked the debate are only beginning. The vote was 202 to 196 as liberal Democrats halted their opposition and agreed to accept a compromise offered by the Senate that added a $350 million authorization for educational and social programs. [New York Times] Public funding of House elections was dealt a serious, perhaps fatal, blow as a House committee defeated the proposal by a vote of 17 to 8. Informed sources said it was uncertain whether the House leadership would press its support for the bill in view of the panel's strong opposition and a lack of general backing in the House. [New York Times] Not-guilty pleas by Bert Lance, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and three business associates were made to charges that they violated federal banking and conspiracy laws to obtain $20 million in loans for their own use from 1970 to 1978. The four accused men were fingerprinted and released without bail. [New York Times] A stay of execution was lifted by a federal appeals court, and Florida officials said John Spenkelink, a convicted murderer, would be executed Friday. The Supreme Court lifted its own stay earlier. Mr. Spenkelink's lawyers were preparing another appeal to the Supreme Court, however. [New York Times] Tight security for Mideast talks began as Israeli forces barricaded roads to Beersheba, where negotiations among Israel, Egypt and the United States on Arab self-rule in the occupied territories are to open tomorrow. The consensus is that the talks will be long and complex. [New York Times] Apparent criticism of Deng Xiaoping has led supporters of the senior Deputy Prime Minister to open a vigorous counterattack in the Chinese press. The issues include the wall-poster protest movement. Mr. Deng's backers have asserted that unity can be achieved only if their policies are adopted in place of inflexible adherence to Mao Tse-tung's teachings. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 837.66 (+0.26, +0.03%)
S&P Composite: 99.93 (+0.04, +0.04%)
Arms Index: 0.74

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	811	13.80
Declines	640	8.10
Unchanged	437	3.81
Total Volume		25.71

* 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*
May 23, 1979	837.40	99.89	30.39
May 22, 1979	845.37	100.51	30.31
May 21, 1979	842.43	100.14	25.55
May 18, 1979	841.91	99.93	26.59
May 17, 1979	842.95	99.94	30.55
May 16, 1979	828.48	98.42	28.35
May 15, 1979	825.88	98.14	26.19
May 14, 1979	825.02	98.06	22.46
May 11, 1979	830.56	98.52	24.01
May 10, 1979	828.92	98.52	25.23