News stories from Tuesday March 29, 1977

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

Fears for the $50 tax rebate in the Senate were expressed by high Carter administration officials as Vice President Mondale and Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal lobbied for it with Democratic Senators, many of whom consider it inflationary and ineffective. Some powerful Senators have thus far declined to press for it. [New York Times] Presidential authority to reorganize the federal government was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives, but the vote followed an unexpectedly spirited debate on constitutional aspects of the proposal. Quick agreement on the measure is expected with the Senate, where a similar bill swept through on March 3. [New York Times] Britain announced modest cuts in personal income taxes and promised more if the trade unions agree to another round of voluntary pay restraints to curb inflation. The move by Denis Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labor government, put more pressure on the union leaders to prolong their pact with the government, but the first reaction from most of them was clearly negative. [New York Times] New homes in Southern California have become a speculative commodity, with investment syndicates buying them when completed and selling them a year or so later in a sizzling market that often doubles their money. Some experts complain that this accelerates the already soaring rise of home prices, and that the syndicates could be caught in a price collapse. [New York Times] Contraceptive pills are riskier for women over 30 who also smoke heavily than any other method of birth control, according to a new analysis of British and American studies. The report, prepared for the Population Council, an international family planning research organization, suggested that the pill by itself does not present an unreasonable risk of death for non-smokers of any age, but for heavy smokers is more hazardous than pregnancy and childbirth. [New York Times] A bid for Babcock & Wilcox, a leading maker of steam-generating equipment and a producer of coal and nuclear-fired boilers, is planned by the United Technologies Corporation, the diversified aerospace manufacturing company. The cash offer, which could exceed $510 million for all shares, was conditional on a "cooperative" response without legal challenges from Babcock's directors. [New York Times] Ogilvy & Mather International has acknowledged to the Securities and Exchange Commission $789,000 in questionable or unrecorded overseas payments. The company admitted that it took a sizable loss when it invested slush-fund money in its own stock. The major American advertising agency said none of the questionable practices involved illegal political contributions in the United States. [New York Times] Natural rubber could be derived from guayule, a desert shrub that grows wild in the American Southwest, the National Science Foundations said. It urged an immediate research and development program looking to commercial production from this domestic source. A bill to authorize $60 million for this development was introduced in Congress. [New York Times] A Dutch official conceded after a meeting of Spanish, American and Dutch investigators in the Canary Islands that the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jetliner had not been cleared for takeoff when it roared down the runway and collided with a Pan American World Airways jet in aviation's worst disaster. Spanish officials said the Pan American plane had been following orders from the tower in taxiing along the runway. [New York Times] The Kremlin talks took up secondary matters with an agreement to set up working groups on key issues that could not be immediately resolved, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said after the second day's meeting. He said the American strategic arms proposals did not come up and guessed this meant the Soviet side was giving them serious consideration. [New York Times] Robert Goheen is in line for appointment as Ambassador to India, according to reliable Washington sources. The post is viewed as more significant since the election changes in India. Mr. Goheen, a former president of Princeton University, was born in India of American missionary parents and has retained close links with it. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 932.01 (+5.90, +0.64%)
S&P Composite: 99.69 (+0.69, +0.70%)
Arms Index: 0.55

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	866	10.86
Declines	508	3.53
Unchanged	491	2.64
Total Volume		17.03

* 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 28, 1977	926.11	99.00	16.71
March 25, 1977	928.86	99.06	16.55
March 24, 1977	935.67	99.70	19.65
March 23, 1977	942.32	100.20	19.36
March 22, 1977	950.96	101.00	18.66
March 21, 1977	953.54	101.31	18.04
March 18, 1977	961.02	101.86	19.84
March 17, 1977	964.84	102.08	20.70
March 16, 1977	968.00	102.17	22.14
March 15, 1977	965.01	101.98	23.94