News stories from Wednesday March 19, 1980

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

Mistreatment of American hostages in Iran was reported by the United States. It told the World Court that the captives had been interrogated at gunpoint and bound and blindfolded for long periods. Washington renewed a request that the court order a speedy release of the Americans held since Nov. 4. [New York Times] President Carter and Ronald Reagan established themselves as the likely contenders in the 1980 presidential election as their convention delegate totals increased markedly in the primaries in Illinois. The prevailing view was that Mr. Carter's resounding victory Tuesday all but eliminated Senator Edward Kennedy's prospects and the staunch loyalty of Mr. Reagan's supporters in many states made him virtually impossible to defeat, barring a major error.President Carter gained 165 delegates to the Democratic National Convention while Senator Kennedy won only 14, and Mr. Carter trounced him by more than 2 to 1 in the separate presidential preference contest in the Illinois primary. Ronald Reagan apparently gained 39 delegates to the Republican convention, while Representative John Anderson won 26. [New York Times] John Anderson could be "a problem" for President Carter in the election if the Republican Representative runs as an independent candidate for President, John White, the Democratic national chairman, said. [New York Times] Moving toward a balanced budget, the House Budget Committee tentatively endorsed $612.4 billion in spending in the next fiscal year that it said would provide a surplus of $1.4 billion. The panel achieved the balance with proposed spending cuts and increased estimates of revenues. Some Republicans termed part of the bookkeeping false and misleading. [New York Times] The most Intensive lobbying on Capitol Hill in many years has been set off by President Carter's new anti-inflation program, according to members of Congress and administration officials. Scores of lobbyists are besieging Congress, pleading with members to spare programs from proposed budget slashes and to make what cuts they must from other programs. [New York Times] A top Illinois official was convicted on one of five counts of tax fraud involving charges that he understated his income for the tax years 1972 through 1975. The official, state Attorney General William Scott, is expected to appeal the verdict. When he is sentenced, he will have to forfeit his post as the state's top legal officer, a position he has held since 1968.A high New Jersey official was indicted on charges of violating state election laws in the acceptance of cash contributions to the 1977 re-election campaign of Governor Brendan Byrne. A state grand jury handed up the indictment against George Lee, New Jersey's assistant secretary of state. [New York Times] State legislators facing prosecution in federal courts are not entitled to a legislative privilege barring introduction of evidence of their "legislative acts," under a 7-to-2 decision by the Supreme Court. The Court has interpreted the Constitution's speech and debate provision to grant such a privilege to members of Congress. [New York Times] Mayor Koch said he had assurances from Vice President Mondale that the Carter administration would press for congressional approval of an aid program to replace funds that New York and other hard-pressed cities would lose under the President's anti-inflation program. But congressional sources said it was highly unlikely that Congress would restore such funds to the cities this year.New York state would lose federal aid estimated by one official at $700 million under the spending reductions proposed by the House Budget Committee. The plans to cut the budget go well beyond the proposals made last week by the Carter administration. [New York Times] The U.S. is spurring Middle East talks. The White House said that President Carter had invited President Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Begin of Israel to confer with him separately in Washington next month in an effort to invigorate the negotiations on Palestinian self-rule. The White House said that no three-member summit meeting was planned now, but did not rule out the possibility. [New York Times] Britain approved a tunnel linking it with the European continent, provided that the English Channel project could be privately financed. More than 300 yards of a double bore were dug in 1974 before a financially pressed government abandoned the plan. [New York Times] Moscow is balking on the arms accord, according to American officials. They said that in Geneva the Soviet representatives resisted American efforts to continue talks for carrying out the new strategic weapons accord, which has not yet been approved by the Senate. [New York Times] Italy's Prime Minister resigned after the Socialists, the third largest party, announced they would vote against the government on key issues instead of abstaining, as they had been doing. Without their abstentions, Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga lacks the votes to stay in power. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 800.94 (-0.68, -0.08%)
S&P Composite: 104.31 (+0.21, +0.20%)
Arms Index: 1.17

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	887	17.44
Declines	583	13.43
Unchanged	391	5.65
Total Volume		36.52

* 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 18, 1980	801.62	104.10	47.34
March 17, 1980	788.65	102.26	37.01
March 14, 1980	811.69	105.43	35.18
March 13, 1980	809.56	105.62	33.00
March 12, 1980	819.54	106.92	37.99
March 11, 1980	826.45	107.76	41.42
March 10, 1980	818.94	106.51	43.54
March 7, 1980	820.56	106.90	50.95
March 6, 1980	828.07	108.65	49.61
March 5, 1980	844.88	111.13	49.25