News stories from Thursday July 20, 1978

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

Postal talks continued into the night as the Postal Service dropped a key demand for an end to a ban on layoffs. But with negotiators still deadlocked on the wage and benefit package, postal officials braced themselves for wildcat job actions by union locals tomorrow. [New York Times] A $15 billion budget cut is being planned by President Carter for the fiscal year beginning October 1979, according to senior administration officials. They said that the President had approved the new belt-tightening guidelines, which would rule out new spending programs and require widespread cutbacks in existing programs. As a result, the officials expect a major battle when the budget is drafted. [New York Times] Dr. Peter Bourne, the subject of controversy because of his prescription of a powerful sedative for a White House employee under an assumed name, resigned as President Carter's principal adviser on drugs and narcotics, saying he was unable to defend himself against "unrelenting attacks" and their impact on Mr. Carter. [New York Times] A $31.8 billion housing bill cleared the Senate by a vote of 81 to 3. The measure, which provides $8 billion less than recommended by the Senate Banking Committee, expands the number of cities eligible for housing assistance. The vote was a victory for President Carter, who had opposed the higher amount. He won another victory when the Senate rejected a proposal that would have allowed Congress to reject administration housing regulations. [New York Times] Urging better relations with Moscow, President Carter said he had not embarked on a "vendetta" against the Soviet Union and planned no further retaliation on the issue of Soviet dissidents. Speaking at an evening news conference, Mr. Carter, who had barred a computer sale to Moscow over the issue, deplored the recent convictions of dissidents in the Soviet Union, but stressed that he would like to see an improvement in Soviet-American relations. [New York Times] Violating extraterritoriality, a Soviet policeman dashed onto the grounds of the United States Embassy in Moscow, seized an American diplomat from behind and tore his coat in an effort to prevent him from entering the embassy building. The United States lodged a protest over the incident, which was seen as having special significance since the diplomat, Raymond Smith, had been assigned to monitor last week's trial of Anatoly Sharansky, a dissident. [New York Times] A quick Mideast breakthrough will be sought by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Mr. Vance, who believes that time may be running out and that chances for a settlement are at a peak, plans a major diplomatic effort in the wake of the Israeli-Egyptian talks in England. That may mean further strain on United States-Israeli relations because Mr. Vance is reportedly convinced of the need for Israeli concessions. [New York Times] Egypt looks to the United States for the next move on the Middle East, according to President Anwar Sadat, who called American efforts "very essential" to the quest for a settlement. Mr. Sadat, who said he expected the arrival of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance next week, expressed hope that the United States would soon offer its own peace proposal. [New York Times] Israeli women gained the right to avoid military service on religious grounds under legislation that cleared Parliament after a 12-hour filibuster. The measure was seen as a government concession to the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael Party for joining the government coalition last year. [New York Times] South Africa's harsh penal system, derived from 17th-century Calvinist notions of justice, results in more executions a year than in most other Western countries combined. While it reflects the country's high rate of violent crime, it falls hardest on blacks. Calls for reform have generally gone unheeded. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 838.62 (-2.08, -0.25%)
S&P Composite: 98.03 (-0.09, -0.09%)
Arms Index: 1.13

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	823	15.19
Declines	657	13.71
Unchanged	417	4.45
Total Volume		33.35

* 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*
July 19, 1978	840.70	98.12	30.85
July 18, 1978	829.00	96.87	22.86
July 17, 1978	839.05	97.78	29.18
July 14, 1978	839.83	97.58	28.37
July 13, 1978	824.76	96.25	23.62
July 12, 1978	824.93	96.24	26.64
July 11, 1978	821.29	95.93	27.47
July 10, 1978	816.79	95.27	22.47
July 7, 1978	812.46	94.89	23.49
July 6, 1978	807.17	94.32	24.99