News stories from Tuesday July 3, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- OPEC's price increases fall hardest on the poorest nations; their inflation rate will grow, their economic growth will be set back and their political systems will be seriously strained, according to private analysts and American officials. The State Department estimates the OPEC price increases since December will cost the developing nations $10 billion in 1979 and will lower their aggregate growth rate from a projected 5.2 percent to 4.2 percent. In addition, development projects in the third world are being cut back or dropped.
OPEC's power cannot be easily challenged, the Carter administration has concluded, whether the United States acts alone or with other countries. A consensus has emerged that only long-term measures, such as conservation and shifting to non-oil energy resources, offered any hope for weakening the oil cartel.
[New York Times] - President Carter views his address to the nation Thursday night on the energy crisis as his best opportunity yet to rally the country behind an energy program that will rescue it from overdependence on foreign oil. He is expected to revive his proposal for standby authority to ration gasoline and set the development of synthetic development fuels as a major long-term target of his administration. [New York Times]
- Dan White has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison for the killing last November of Mayor George Moscone of San Francisco and Harvey Milk, a Supervisor. The 33-year-old former San Francisco Supervisor who is also a former police officer and fireman, was convicted of manslaughter in May. He was given the maximum sentence permitted under California law and will be eligible for parole in less than five years. [New York Times]
- Most Toledo municipal workers returned to work under a court order, but the Ohio city was far from operating normally. About 3,400 employees walked out over the weekend in a wage increase dispute with the city administration. Some unions accepted the city's latest contract offer, but it was turned down by the rank and file of the Police Department, though their superior officers accepted it. [New York Times]
- A world auction price record for a 20th-century painting was set in London when an anonymous buyer paid $1,576,800 for a portrait by Henri Matisse, "Le Jeune Marin." It was the highest auction price for any painting other than an old master work. [New York Times]
- Unnecessary use of smallpox vaccine is responsible for outbreaks of the disease, which otherwise seems to have has been eradicated almost everywhere. The Public Health Service stopped recommending routine smallpox vaccinations eight years ago, but because fear of the disease persists children are still being vaccinated in the United States. Last year, according to official figures, as many as 10 percent of children aged 1 to 4 years were vaccinated. [New York Times]
- An oil slick off Coney Island blew out to sea removing any doubt that the beach would be open for the July 4 holiday. But Staten Island beaches were not so lucky. South Beach and Midland Beach were closed for the second day because oil that spilled from a container ship has been washing ashore. [New York Times]
- Prosecution of Nazi war criminals will continue in West Germany. After a bitter debate in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, the majority voted to abolish the statute of limitations on murder. Those who wanted the statute to take effect at the end of this year said West Germany had been pressured by groups abroad. [New York Times]
- Italy's Communists will resume the role of an opposition party, ending three years of support to the Christian Democrats. The Communists did badly in recent elections, and in announcing the resumption of their opposition role, Enrico Berlinguer, the Communist Party leader, said the national election June 3 "marked the end of a political phase." [New York Times]
- Fighting has wrecked Nicaragua's main industrial region in eastern, Managua, where the Sandinist guerrillas and forces of the Somoza regime battled for two weeks. Looters have emptied most stores and offices in the capital and, in addition, Nicaragua's agricultural economy has been devastated. A food shortage is growing in urban areas. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 835.58 (+1.54, +0.18%)
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* |
| July 2, 1979 | 834.04 | 101.99 | 32.06 |
| June 29, 1979 | 841.98 | 102.91 | 34.68 |
| June 28, 1979 | 843.04 | 102.80 | 38.47 |
| 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 |