News stories from Tuesday March 4, 1980

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

Cyrus Vance accepted the blame for a "failure in communications" that President Carter said had led to an erroneous United States vote in the United Nations Security Council condemning Israel's settlements in occupied Arab territories. Secretary of State Vance "accepts resonsibility for this foul-up," his spokesman said. Nonetheless, controversy and skepticism continued over the major diplomatic and political embarrassment for the administration.Israel's cabinet assailed Washington and issued a strong rejection of what it termed the "repugnant" United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements in occupied territories. Washington aroused scorn and dismay among diplomats at the United Nations over President Carter's disavowal of the United States's vote rebuking Israel. The prevailing view was that the disavowal resulted from domestic election concerns. [New York Times] A black government in Rhodesia was being formed by Robert Mugabe soon after the former rebel leader's sweeping election victory. He assured the white minority that its fears of property seizures and any other retaliation were unfounded. The stunning victory of Mugabe jolted British experts, who expressed some concern over future stability in an independent Zimbabwe. Top Foreign Office officials rejected suggestions in Parliament that Mr. Mugabe, who calls himself a Marxist, was in any sense a pawn of Moscow. [New York Times] An energy policy deadlock was broken as a House-Senate conference agreed after three months to create a new corporation with authority to spend $20 billion in the next four years to develop synthetic fuels as alternatives to imported oil. The accord gives strong support to a key part of the administration's energy program. [New York Times] Senator Edward Kennedy defeated President Carter by a 2-to-1 margin in the Democratic presidential primary in Massachusetts. Representative John Anderson of Illinois was in a close three-way Republican contest with George Bush of Texas and former Gov. Ronald Reagan of California. Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee was far behind in fourth place. [New York Times] A budget deficit $6 billion higher than the $40 billion that the administration calculated only a month ago is revealed in new figures, according to congressional sources. They said that the disclosure will be announced tomorrow by the Congressional Budget Office. In addition, the agency's figures show that the projected deficit for the next fiscal year is nearly $20 billion, sharply decreasing the prospects that the next budget will be balanced. [New York Times] A Carter nominee was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which opposed by a 9-to-6 vote the President's appointment of Charles Winberry of Rocky Mount, N.C., to be a federal district judge. A representative of the American Bar Association had told the committee that in interviewing leaders in North Carolina he found "definite concern about the quality of this candidate." [New York Times] The heaviest snowfall in 87 years in the Tidewater region of Virginia and North Carolina began turning to slush under 50-degree sunlight. But many roads were still clogged, intercity traffic was snarled, and schools and many offices remained closed. [New York Times] Iranian militants set new conditions for a meeting between their 50 American hostages and a United Nations inquiry commission and rejected efforts by Iran's President and Foreign Minister to arrange a meeting. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 856.48 (+2.13, +0.25%)
S&P Composite: 112.78 (+0.28, +0.25%)
Arms Index: 0.72

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	466	14.65
Declines	1,077	24.25
Unchanged	378	5.41
Total Volume		44.31

* 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*
March 3, 1980	854.35	112.50	38.68
February 29, 1980	863.14	113.66	38.80
February 28, 1980	854.44	112.35	40.31
February 27, 1980	855.12	112.38	46.43
February 26, 1980	864.25	113.98	40.04
February 25, 1980	859.81	113.33	39.14
February 22, 1980	868.77	115.04	48.21
February 21, 1980	868.52	115.28	51.54
February 20, 1980	886.86	116.47	44.34
February 19, 1980	876.02	114.60	39.48