News stories from Wednesday April 30, 1980

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

Iran's embassy in London was seized by three armed men who held about 20 hostages, demanding more rights for the Arab minority in Iran. The captors said that if Iranian authorities did not meet their demands, including the release of 91 prisoners, by today they would blow up the embassy and kill everyone in it. Sporadic negotiations with the captors were pressed by the London police. [New York Times] A broad contingency plan on Iran was disclosed by administration officials for possible use if the ill-fated mission to rescue the American hostages had met serious resistance. They said that the detailed plan gave President Carter the option of using air cover to strike at military facilities around Teheran, raising some risk of civilian casualties. The officials insisted that such strikes were not likely to have been necessary.New uncertainty over Iran's intentions on surrendering the remains of eight American servicemen killed in the rescue attempt was suggested by a hard-line Islamic leader. [New York Times] Some campaigning by the President is planned. Mr. Carter announced that he would lift his self-imposed ban on travel and campaigning and soon begin to make limited trips around the country. He contended that the circumstances that had kept him in the capital area since the hostages were seized in Iran nearly six months ago had been "alleviated to some degree." [New York Times] Ronald Reagan assailed Jimmy Carter for not having acted months earlier to try to free the hostages in Iran. The sharp criticism of the President was made by Mr. Reagan as he arrived in El Paso to start a swing through Texas for his drive in the Republican presidential primary Saturday. [New York Times] Strong signs of a developing recession were indicated by a key index, which registered in March its sharpest drop in five and a half years. The government reported a 2.6 percent drop in the index of leading economic indicators, suggesting a recession that might be more substantial than the Carter administration has predicted. [New York Times] Bert Lance was acquitted of nine bank fraud charges, but the jury was unable to return verdicts on three other counts against the former federal budget director and two co-defendants. The jury deliberated for eight days and was said to have been deadlocked on the unresolved counts since Saturday. The government may decide to hold a new trial on these charges. [New York Times] An alleged television fraud scheme was reported by a former lawyer for the American Broadcasting Company. She has told Los Angeles prosecutors she believes that some network officials and members of an independent production company conspired to defraud two investors in the "Charlie's Angels" television series of more than $500,000. The plot, she said, involved diverting payments from that series to another ABC-TV series. [New York Times] Cubans poured into Key West, Fla., after storms subsided, and officials were hard-pressed to cope with the huge influx. The number of refugees exceeded 7,000 and the number of boats rose to about 80 as more craft were seen approaching Florida. [New York Times] A bid to aid social programs failed as the House narrowly defeated a measure proposed by liberals and supported by President Carter to restore $1.2 billion in cuts for the programs to next year's budget. [New York Times] A plan designed to cut hospital costs was announced by the nation's Blue Cross and Blue Shield Associations. Participating hospitals will be paid a fixed annual amount for each association subscriber electing to receive care that way. Under the prevailing method, a hospital is paid for each day a patient spends there, which many believe rewards hospitals for keeping patients longer than needed. [New York Times] Japan's objectives will be pressed by Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira in a nine-day North American tour. He set off to seek more oil from Mexico, more economic cooperation from Canada and more prudence in foreign policy from the United States. [New York Times] A new sovereign of The Netherlands, Queen Beatrix, was invested amid colorful pageantry while policemen skirmished with rock-hurling squatters a block away. At least 125 persons were injured and dozens of shop windows were smashed in the clashes, which the squatters said were prompted by poor housing and the heavy security surrounding the ceremony. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 817.06 (+5.97, +0.74%)
S&P Composite: 106.29 (+0.43, +0.41%)
Arms Index: 0.80

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	804	15.80
Declines	650	10.23
Unchanged	406	4.82
Total Volume		30.85

* 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*
April 29, 1980	811.09	105.86	27.93
April 28, 1980	805.46	105.64	30.61
April 25, 1980	803.58	105.16	28.59
April 24, 1980	797.10	104.40	35.79
April 23, 1980	789.25	103.73	42.62
April 22, 1980	789.85	103.43	47.92
April 21, 1980	759.13	99.80	27.55
April 18, 1980	763.40	100.55	26.88
April 17, 1980	768.86	101.05	32.77
April 16, 1980	771.25	101.54	39.72