News stories from Tuesday October 16, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A shift in U.S. policy on Cuba was reported by officials in Washington. They said that the administration, whose policy has been based on efforts to normalize relations, had decided on broad moves to discourage Cuba's military involvement abroad and to undercut its influence in the third world. [New York Times]
- The Carter business was cleared of any wrongdoing by Paul Curran, a special federal investigator, who said that an exhaustive inquiry into bank loans to the President's family peanut enterprise had found "no evidence whatsoever" that proceeds had been diverted illegally to Mr. Carter's 1976 presidential campaign. Mr. Curran also said that while some of the bank loans did not have sufficient collateral, there was no evidence that Mr. Carter or anyone else had committed any crimes. [New York Times]
- Economic optimism was tempered by Treasury Secretary William Miller, who backed away from his repeated assurances that the nation had come halfway through a recession. Citing recent credit-tightening moves by the Federal Reserve System, he said that "we cannot be as certain as previously" about the extent of the slowdown.
Credit tightening was denounced by Lane Kirkland, who said that steps by the Federal Reserve Board to curb the supply and raise the cost of money would "compound" rather that solve the hardships of inflation. Mr. Kirkland is expected to succeed George Meany as head of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
[New York Times] - President Carter drew applause from 3,000 persons at a "town meeting" in a Chicago suburb as he exhorted them to cut gasoline use and defended rising military spending. He asked the crowd to have "a little patience" with his economic program, and he predicted that both interest and inflation rates would drop before the year ended. [New York Times]
- More than 400 people were injured, at least 25 of them seriously, in a chain reaction accident that involved three crowded commuter trains entering Philadelphia. Five cars derailed and buckled and one Conrail line was closed throughout the day. Conrail said that "the signaling system was in proper working order." [New York Times]
- The Southwest earthquake that rocked the southern California-Mexico region Monday afternoon was followed by 26 aftershocks with a magnitude of 4 or more on the Richter scale. The strongest temblor on the United States mainland since 1971 injured more than 70 persons, mostly by broken glass and falling objects. [New York Times]
- A 45 percent dropout rate at New York City's public high schools in the four-year period ending in 1978 was reported by School Chancellor Frank Macchiarola. His statement to the Board of Education that about 40,000 students had left before graduation was termed "devastating" and "astronomically high" by school officials. [New York Times]
- Michele Sindona reappeared after two and a half months. The Italian financier, who faces trial on fraud charges involving the collapse of the Franklin National Bank, was admitted to a Manhattan hospital with a possible bullet wound in a leg and was placed under arrest, federal officials said. His family said he had been released by kidnappers, but the F.B.I. said it had no information on that point. [New York Times]
- Rhodesian rebels modified objections to a new constitution proposed by Britain for Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The guerrilla leaders, seeking to remain in the London peace conference, said that the main obstacle to an accord was Britain's insistence that whites be compensated for farmland confiscated by any new government. The guerrillas said this hurdle could be overcome if other countries paid the compensation. London and Washington have agreed to help pay for it. [New York Times]
- Major programs for El Salvador were announced by the new ruling junta in efforts to solve the country's political crisis. The coup leaders promised to call free elections within "a reasonable period," a general amnesty, and respect for human rights, but the violence continued. [New York Times]
- The Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to two experts noted for work on the economic problems of developing nations. The laureates are Theodore Schultz, an American, and Sir Arthur Lewis, a native of the West Indies who is a British subject and the first black to receive a Nobel award other than the peace prize. [New York Times]
- Major food supplies for Cambodia began arriving by ship, relief officials reported. A cargo of 1,500 tons, hauled on barges pulled by tugs, exceeds all the air shipments that have trickled into the ravaged nation since the summer. The officials said that 6,000 more tons were on the way. [New York Times]
- Washington and Moscow are at odds on nearly every issue except the strategic arms limitation treaty, according to the Carter administration's ranking expert on Soviet relations. He also told Congress that the differences were unlikely to be settled soon. [New York Times]
- China punished a leading dissident. Wei Jingsheng was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of giving military secrets to an unnamed foreigner and engaging in such counterrevolutionary activities as writing "reactionary" articles for an underground magazine. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 829.52 (-1.54, -0.19%)
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* |
| October 15, 1979 | 831.06 | 103.36 | 34.85 |
| October 12, 1979 | 838.99 | 104.49 | 36.39 |
| October 11, 1979 | 844.62 | 105.05 | 47.55 |
| October 10, 1979 | 849.32 | 105.30 | 81.62 |
| October 9, 1979 | 857.59 | 106.63 | 55.57 |
| October 8, 1979 | 884.04 | 109.88 | 32.61 |
| October 5, 1979 | 897.61 | 111.27 | 48.25 |
| October 4, 1979 | 890.10 | 110.17 | 38.80 |
| October 3, 1979 | 885.15 | 109.59 | 36.47 |
| October 2, 1979 | 885.32 | 109.59 | 38.32 |