News stories from Tuesday November 6, 1979

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

Iran's civilian government collapsed, conceding power to the Islamic authority of Ayatollah Khomeini and apparently further dimming hopes for a negotiated release of 60 hostages being held by Iranian students in the American Embassy in Teheran. The students said they would kill the hostages if Washington used any force in a rescue attempt and pressed a demand that Washington return to Iran the deposed Shah.A non-provocative posture toward Iran was decided on by President Carter in the hope that the Americans being held by Iranian students in the Embassy in Teheran would eventually be freed. The President conferred twice with his foreign policy advisers and the mood at the State Department was tense, reflecting frustration over the lack of an effective way to persuade Iran to release the Americans. [New York Times] A report that Iran has halted loading all oil tankers at the country's major port in the Persian Gulf sent oil prices soaring in the international spot market. The report, stemming from industry sources, was later widely circulated by Washington officials. [New York Times] Wide changes in handling crises abroad and making key national security decisions were urged in a White House report approved by President Carter. The report said that poor management and bureaucratic infighting had blunted "coherence" in foreign and military policy. [New York Times] Democrats overcame stiff challenges by Republicans and held the governorships in Kentucky and Mississippi. The results signified that a national Republican resurgence, seen a year ago in a net gain of six governorships and 300 legislative seats, had been checked. A Republican ousted Cleveland's Mayor, Dennis Kucinich, the controversial Democrat. [New York Times] An administration loyalty policy has been imposed by President Carter, according to White House sources. They said the President had instructed his cabinet officers to check the political "dependability" of their subordinates and had strongly implied that those not prepared to campaign actively in his behalf should be dismissed. [New York Times] A record fine against an airline was sought by the Federal Aviation Administration, which moved to impose a $1.5 million penalty against Braniff International Airways for conducting hundreds of flights with planes allegedly "unairworthy." Braniff was accused of "improper" maintenance, inadequate inspections and failure to keep adequate records. [New York Times] Oil overcharges of $1.18 billion were made by nine major refiners in selling products to the public from 1973 to 1976, according to the Department of Energy. Spokesmen for the nine companies said the allegations were both unwarranted and incorrect. Department investigators have already accused 15 major refiners of having overcharged $6.4 billion in those years. [New York Times] Computers can find firm solutions to very hard problems that have previously been tackled on a hit-or-miss approach, an obscure Soviet mathematician has discovered. The discovery may be applicable to weather prediction, complex industrial processes, oil refining, secret codes and many other endeavors. [New York Times] Environmentalists expressed anger that about 1,700 plants and 100 animals are being dropped from consideration for protection as endangered species. Interior Department officials and environmentalists disagreed over the reason for the action. [New York Times] The $33 billion MX missile project, planned for the Great Basin region of Utah and Nevada, is causing concern among officials and residents of those states because of its scope. The project is expected to be the biggest one in the nation's history. [New York Times] Anthony Scotto was supported again in his testimony that he passed on cash contributions to New York political campaigns. Joseph Colozza, a dock union official who worked in Governor Carey's re-election drive last year, testified that Mr. Scotto, a longshoremen's union leader, gave him $25,000 in cash for the Carey campaign in 1978. [New York Times] Japan's Prime Minister Ohira retained his post, defeating his arch-rival in the governing party in a vote at a special session of Parliament. [New York Times] The arms treaty survived another so-called killer amendment by a one vote margin in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But a Republican Senator warned that resistance to such amendments would almost certainly defeat the pact in the Senate. [New York Times] A coup plot in Seoul was conceived last June by Kim Jae Kyu, chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and killer of President Park Chung Hee on Oct. 26, according to a report by military investigators. It said that Mr. Kim had failed in the coup because he overestimated support for him in the armed forces and was unable to implicate the army chief of staff in the conspiracy after the assassination. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 806.48 (-6.15, -0.76%)
S&P Composite: 101.20 (-0.62, -0.61%)
Arms Index: 1.35

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	453	4.87
Declines	975	14.11
Unchanged	442	2.98
Total Volume		21.96

* 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*
November 5, 1979	812.63	101.82	20.46
November 2, 1979	818.94	102.51	23.68
November 1, 1979	820.14	102.57	25.89
October 31, 1979	815.70	101.82	27.78
October 30, 1979	823.81	102.67	28.89
October 29, 1979	808.62	100.71	22.72
October 26, 1979	809.30	100.57	29.67
October 25, 1979	808.46	100.00	28.45
October 24, 1979	808.36	100.44	31.48
October 23, 1979	806.83	100.28	32.91