News stories from Wednesday May 31, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Consumer prices jumped by nine-tenths of 1 percent in April, the largest increase in more than a year, the government reported, adding that the major factor was a record 6.6 percent spurt in the price of beef. The figures, showing that inflation was again running at a two-digit annual rate, added pressure on the Carter administration to take stern cost-holding measures. One option being considered is to allow increased beef imports. [New York Times]
- Searches of news offices were supported by the Supreme Court in a 5 to 3 vote. The Court ruled that newspapers have no special right to advance warning of a court-approved search by law-enforcement officers or any chance to challenge such a search in court before it occurs. The majority held that someone not involved in a crime has no more right than a suspect to resist a search for evidence. [New York Times]
- The House warned South Korea that it might cut off economic aid if former Ambassador Kim Dong Jo was not made available to testify. The warning came in a 321-46 vote, indicating that most members want to clear up the embarrassing issue. [New York Times]
- The birth rate is sliding back toward the historic low of 1976, according to the latest figures compiled by the federal government. Fluctuations in the birth rate have important economic and social consequences, such as dropping enrollments in schools and colleges and strains on the Social Security system when the average age of the population rises. [New York Times]
- Control of the C.I.A. and monitoring of its covert activities overseas by Congress have been called weak by some members of Congress and Washington officials. They cite as evidence the willingness of the Senate and House in committees to approve clandestine operations in such sensitive regions as the Middle East and Africa without serious questioning. [New York Times]
- Commuting by rail instead of car is becoming popular in California, the land of the freeway. The state and Los Angeles County governments have persuaded Amtrak to run trains between that city and San Diego, with stops in the commuter community of Orange County. The government agencies are subsidizing the trains. [New York Times]
- Concern about Soviet and Cuban military activity in Africa, expressed by President Carter, was acknowledged by leaders of the Atlantic alliance. They warned Moscow that such actions endangered detente and jeopardized "further improvement of East-West relations." But the final communique of the two-day NATO meeting in Washington was modified to say that the leaders also stressed that such situations should not be viewed only in an East-West context.
Western actions in Africa could threaten detente, Leonid Brezhnev warned in response to American charges of Soviet-Cuban military involvement there. The Soviet leader termed the dispatch of French and Belgian paratroops to Zaire recently to rescue Europeans an act of "cynical interference."
[New York Times] - The timetable for a new Soviet-American arms accord is apparently being slowed by the Carter administration. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko held five hours of talks in New York, but failed to resolve remaining issues holding up the strategic arms negotiations. Officials say that persisting differences and domestic American political factors have reduced the chances of reaching an accord soon. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 840.61 (+6.41, +0.77%)
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 30, 1978 | 834.20 | 96.86 | 21.04 |
| May 26, 1978 | 831.69 | 96.58 | 21.41 |
| May 25, 1978 | 835.41 | 96.80 | 28.41 |
| May 24, 1978 | 837.92 | 97.08 | 31.46 |
| May 23, 1978 | 845.29 | 98.05 | 33.23 |
| May 22, 1978 | 855.42 | 99.09 | 28.68 |
| May 19, 1978 | 846.85 | 98.12 | 34.36 |
| May 18, 1978 | 850.92 | 98.62 | 42.27 |
| May 17, 1978 | 858.37 | 99.60 | 45.49 |
| May 16, 1978 | 854.30 | 99.35 | 48.17 |