News stories from Thursday March 27, 1980

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

A new delay over the fate of hostages in Iran was indicated by the Revolutionary Council. It postponed indefinitely a second round of elections for Parliament, apparently putting off any possible decision on the 53 American captives until this summer. The postponement was attributed to widespread charges of irregularities and fraud in the first round of voting and to delays in counting votes.Seeking to ease the crisis with Iran, Secretary of State Vance approved a plan for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to issue a "white paper" on Washington's ties with the regime of the deposed Shah. Officials said that the administration would soon announce new steps to put pressure on Iranian authorities to try to speed the release of the hostages. [New York Times] A major oil rig disaster occurred in the North Sea as a platform with more than 200 workers on board collapsed in a heavy storm, hurling at least 150 workers into the water and trapping 50 in a theater. A massive search was underway and at least 91 survivors were plucked from 30-foot waves. [New York Times] The "windfall" profits tax won final congressional approval as the Senate agreed to President Carter's plan by a 66-to-31 vote. Approval of the tax on the American oil industry, which is expected to raise $227.3 billion over the next 10 years, came after a year of debate and is a major victory for Mr. Carter. A rider increases individuals' tax exemption on income from dividends and interest. [New York Times] A volcano in the State of Washington that has been dormant for 123 years spewed forth steam and ash in what scientists called the first stages of an eruption. Residents of the sparsely populated area around the volcano in the Cascade Range were evacuated and a team of scientists was sent to the peak 50 miles northeast of Portland, Ore., to assess the hazard. [New York Times] Action on a proposed balanced budget for the next fiscal year was delayed by liberal Democrats in the House in a parliamentary maneuver. They sought to put together an "urban package" proposal restoring planned cuts in social programs. [New York Times] Steps prompted by the reactor accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant a year ago include extra training for hundreds of reactor operators and the establishment of a telephone hot line to link every plant in the nation to the government's emergency response center. But whether these and other changes have increased the safety of the 67 American utility reactors is in dispute.The venting of more radioactive gas to decontaminate the crippled Three Mile Island reactor received apparent backing from federal safety experts and the Governor of Pennsylvania amid the prospect of intensified protests by nearby residents. [New York Times] An inquiry on Harrison Williams shows that the Democratic Senator from New Jersey has undervalued his and his wife's assets in recent public reports by at least $200,000 a year. A study by The New York Times of the couple's financial statements found wide fluctuations in assets and mystery surrounding the purchase and sale of real estate in Washington, New Jersey and the Caribbean. [New York Times] The plummeting price of silver shook the $2 billion silver empire of the Hunt brothers of Dallas, pressing them to raise millions of dollars in cash and throwing Wall Street into a furor. The upheaval threatened at least one major brokerage house, prompted government intervention to prevent stampede selling in its shares and drove the price of silver still lower. [New York Times] A 1980 census questionnaire should be in the mailbox of virtually every household in the country tomorrow. The form is to be filled out and mailed back next Tuesday, April 1, to provide a demographic "snapshot" of the American population on that day. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 759.98 (-2.14, -0.28%)
S&P Composite: 98.22 (-0.46, -0.47%)
Arms Index: 0.48

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	141	9.68
Declines	1,590	52.40
Unchanged	168	1.60
Total Volume		63.68

* 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 26, 1980	762.12	98.68	37.35
March 25, 1980	767.83	99.19	43.79
March 24, 1980	765.44	99.28	39.22
March 21, 1980	785.15	102.31	32.22
March 20, 1980	789.08	103.12	32.58
March 19, 1980	800.94	104.31	36.52
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