News stories from Thursday September 29, 1977

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

The Senate filibuster over natural gas pricing had appeared to be ending in a compromise, but a new stalemate intervened. The compromise worked out by Senator Henry Jackson would continue regulation but raise the ceiling price of newly discovered gas to $2.03 per thousand cubic feet from $1.46 at present and the $1.75 proposed by President Carter. The President, meanwhile, reiterated his opposition to deregulation. [New York Times] A quick tax cut may be proposed for next year under recommendations the Treasury Department has made to President Carter so that he may achieve the broad tax revisions and reductions considered vital to his 1981 goals of high employment and a balanced budget. Treasury officials and the Council of Economic Advisers believe that a rise in unemployment may come in the second half of 1978 and that Congress might have to cut withholding taxes before completing work on the tax reform program.Most families with incomes of more than $100,000 a year would pay higher income taxes and almost everybody else would pay less under the tax changes the Treasury Department is urging President Carter to propose. The Treasury estimates, for example, that the "effective" tax rate on incomes between $20,000 and $30,000 a year would be reduced to 12.4 percent from 13.9 percent. [New York Times] The controversial neutron bomb was supported in an appropriations vote in the House. Voting 297 to 109, the House struck down a proposal by Representative Ted Weiss, Democrat-Liberal of Manhattan, barring funds for the production or deployment of the weapon. [New York Times] The ban on Concorde SST's flights to Kennedy International Airport was invalidated by a Federal Appeals Court in Manhattan, which upheld a lower court's decision. The three-judge federal panel agreed that the 18-month ban was unreasonable and discriminatory, and therefore illegal. But it modified the ruling by making it possible for local authorities to reinstate the ban if they could devise noise standards for Kennedy that did not discriminate against the Concorde. The ruling becomes effective in 21 days, but the Port Authority said it would appeal to the Supreme Court and seek a stay pending the appeal. [New York Times] A sharp rise in August in the government's leading economic indicators wiped out distress signals that were apparent in early summer. The index last month was up eight-tenths of 1 percent after a revised increase of two-tenths of 1 percent in July and declines of two-tenths of 1 percent in June and May. The most significant increase was a rise of three-tenths of 1 percent in contracts and orders for plants and new equipment, indicating that manufacturers may he stepping up production. [New York Times] A stock market rally followed good economic news. The principal stimulant was the report on the government's leading economic indicators. An analyst suggested that the rally was also due to the growing conviction among investors that the Senate's revised version of the President's energy program "will permit great profits for the domestic natural gas industry." The Dow Jones industrials, which gained throughout the session, closed up 5.37 points to 840.09. [New York Times] An agreement is impossible on the Middle East, President Carter said, without adequate Palestinian representation at a peace conference. At his televised news conference, the President said that a Middle East peace was of "vital national interest" to the United States, but he avoided taking sides between Arabs and Israelis on such questions as who should represent the Palestinians at Geneva. He said however, that the Palestine Liberation organization represented a "substantial part" of the three million Palestinians and again offered to meet and "work with" the P.L.O. if it accepted Security Council Resolution 242, which recognized Israel's existence as a state. [New York Times] The hijackers of a Japanese airliner agreed to give Japan more time to free nine imprisoned radicals and fly them to Dacca, Bangladesh, where five members of a terrorist group known as the Japanese Red Army are holding 146 hostages aboard the plane. Japanese officials said they also needed more time to get together the $6 million in ransom in $100 bills the hijackers are demanding. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 840.09 (+5.37, +0.64%)
S&P Composite: 95.85 (+0.54, +0.57%)
Arms Index: 0.64

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	864	13.50
Declines	483	4.80
Unchanged	495	2.86
Total Volume		21.16

* 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*
September 28, 1977	834.72	95.31	17.96
September 27, 1977	835.85	95.24	19.08
September 26, 1977	841.65	95.38	18.23
September 23, 1977	839.14	95.04	18.76
September 22, 1977	839.14	95.09	16.66
September 21, 1977	840.96	95.10	22.20
September 20, 1977	851.78	95.89	19.03
September 19, 1977	851.52	95.85	16.89
September 16, 1977	856.81	96.48	18.34
September 15, 1977	860.79	96.80	18.23