News stories from Thursday June 28, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The price of oil will rise to new levels ranging from $18 to $23.50 a barrel under a complicated formula approved by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The increase will add another 16 percent to the average price that importing nations now pay. The rise, following the series of surcharges added recently by OPEC members, makes the aggregate price increase more than 50 percent so far this year.
More inflation and less growth were predicted by economists in the Carter administration and the private sector as a result of the oil price increases. A sharp drop in consumers' purchasing power is expected.
[New York Times] - A limit on American imports of oil and oil products in 1980 and longer-range goals for restricting such imports were offered by President Carter. He spoke to leaders of six other major industrial nations that were meeting in Tokyo to set up mutual ground rules for holding down oil imports and ways to monitor their implementation. [New York Times]
- The Carter White House is in jeopardy, and may be swept out of office, according to administration officials, unless it can effectively manage the summer shortfall in gasoline and head off heating oil shortages next winter. The latest polls show the president at his lowest point, and his advisers say he must move quickly to press new initiatives and show the leadership that critics in both parties say is lacking. [New York Times]
- The House dropped a tough "windfall" tax bill worked out by the Ways and Means Committee and adopted instead a version somewhat more favorable to the oil industry. The new plan, which now goes to the Senate, would divert from oil companies to the government about $23.2 billion in revenues resulting from price decontrol. [New York Times]
- Efforts to keep service stations open this weekend were being pressed by Mayor Koch, who announced a widened program of enforcement under which the New York City police will aid city and state agencies in carrying out a directive by Governor Carey that larger stations not be closed.
Gasoline being sold for $1.60 a gallon or more at some service stations in the New York metropolitan area is coming from an unofficial but legal oil market. The fuel is supplied from tankers and barges loaded with petroleum products that are sold without federal controls to any buyer willing to pay what have become record prices.
[New York Times] - A cut in the level of PCB's permitted in fish and other foods shipped in interstate commerce was ordered by the government. The order to limit the carcinogen is to take effect Aug. 28 unless it is delayed by lawsuits by fishing interests or others who could suffer economic hardship. [New York Times]
- A civil rights "new town" collapsed. The 10-year-old project called Soul City in rural North Carolina was planned by Floyd McKissick to be controlled by blacks but open to all. The federal government has spent more than $19 million for Soul City, with $8 million more coming from state and local sources. But today the government decided to liquidate the financially troubled project, concluding that it could not succeed. [New York Times]
- A criminal law was liberalized by the Supreme Court, which eased the test that state prisoners must meet to persuade a federal judge that their convictions were based on insufficient evidence. In a 5 to 3 decision, the Justices held that a federal court "must consider not whether there was any evidence to support a state-court conviction, but whether there was sufficient evidence" to justify a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. [New York Times]
- New York will be host to the Democrats at their 1980 nominating convention. The party's site selection committee gave the city 23 votes to three for Detroit and two for Philadelphia. The choice was dominated by New York's much larger hotel room capacity and also influenced by happy memories of the party's 1976 presidential convention in the city. [New York Times]
- Two owners of Studio 54 were indicted on federal income tax charges. Steven Rubell and Ian Schrager were accused of skimming more than $2.5 million from receipts of the popular Manhattan discotheque. [New York Times]
- Nicaragua's leader would step down, he has told U.S. officials, but he has set conditions that seem unlikely to be accepted by the opposition, sources in Managua said. American officials are trying to persuade moderate opposition groups to accept President Somoza's terms in the apparent hope of reducing the influence of Sandinist rebels over any successor government. [New York Times]
- The U. S. will admit 14,000 Indochinese refugees a month, double the present number, President Carter announced. American officials said the increase would be in effect for 12 months and cost an extra $150 million.
Vietnam was urged to stem the exodus of refugees by foreign ministers of five Southeast Asian countries, who indicated a growing unwillingness to grant temporary asylum to those in camps or to new arrivals.
[New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 843.04 (+2.52, +0.30%)
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* |
| June 27, 1979 | 840.52 | 102.27 | 36.72 |
| June 26, 1979 | 837.66 | 101.66 | 34.68 |
| June 25, 1979 | 844.25 | 102.09 | 31.30 |
| June 22, 1979 | 849.10 | 102.64 | 36.41 |
| June 21, 1979 | 843.64 | 102.09 | 37.10 |
| June 20, 1979 | 839.83 | 101.63 | 33.79 |
| June 19, 1979 | 839.40 | 101.58 | 30.78 |
| June 18, 1979 | 839.40 | 101.56 | 30.97 |
| June 15, 1979 | 843.30 | 102.09 | 32.93 |
| June 14, 1979 | 842.34 | 102.20 | 37.84 |