News stories from Wednesday May 18, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Former President Nixon contends in a recorded television interview being aired tomorrow night that while in office he had inherent power to order burglaries, eavesdropping or other illegal conduct against American dissidents. He says that when the President does it, "that means that it is not illegal." He said various such operations were logical extensions of presidential authority to maintain internal order.
An eavesdropping bill that would require a judicial warrant for electronic eavesdropping on American citizens or resident aliens in foreign intelligence and national security investigations was introduced in the Senate with Carter administration support. A broad sponsorship indicated its chances were good, but prospects for a companion measure in the House are less clear. It does not recognize any "inherent power" of the President to authorize such electronic surveillance.
[New York Times] - Douglas Fraser was elected president of the United Automobile Workers at the national convention of the nation's largest industrial union. The Scottish-born Mr. Fraser, now 60 years old, went to work in a Detroit plant at 18, growing up with the union in the days of the leadership of the late Walter Reuther. [New York Times]
- National Blue Shield moved to stop payments for 28 surgical and diagnostic procedures unless doctors submit written justification for their medical necessity. The listed procedures are considered outmoded or redundant but currently cost subscribers $27.4 million a year. The changes are also expected to affect non-subscribers, who paid $58 million for them last year. [New York Times]
- Stock prices rallied for the fourth straight session, with Dow Jones industrials up 5.43 points to close at 941.91. Wall Street was further cheered by such technical signs as new high levels for 1977 for the Dow's utility and transportation averages as well as the American Stock Exchange's market value index. [New York Times]
- Israel's election stunned both the Labor Party, whose support crumbled after 29 years in power, and the Likud bloc, now the nation's largest party in Parliament, where it has always been in opposition. It seems certain to obtain 41 of the 120 seats to 33 for Labor, which saw its own defeat as a protest against scandals and divisions rather than as an affirmation of the ideals of the "hawkish" Likud. [New York Times]
- American officials acknowledged the election results as a sharp turn to the right in Israel that would at least cause further delay in the Carter administration's timetable for reconvening a Geneva conference on the Middle East. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and his aides, arriving in Geneva for talks with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, would not discuss the results, hoping somehow a coalition government would be formed in Israel that would keep peace hopes alive. [New York Times]
- A renewed attack in the Moscow daily Pravda, timed for the Geneva meeting, said Mr. Carter had given the American people sermons instead of concrete action in his first 100 days as President. This suggested not only distaste for his tactics but an aim to discredit him in the eyes of the Soviet people, thus limiting the impact of his statements on human rights. [New York Times]
- Mayor Beame announced officially that he would seek a second term, disregarding New York City's fiscal crisis, poor poll ratings, the opposition of Governor Carey and his own implied pledge to serve only one term. "I want to finish the job, and I'm the only one who can do it," he said. [New York Times]
- An ad hoc steel group will be set up by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to consider problems of the international steel industry that are causing tension in the industrialized world. American officials in Washington disclosed that they have been pressing for this in the 24-nation body to deal with trade and pricing issues in the hope of defusing protectionist pressure in the American steel industry. [New York Times]
- The private corporate jet, long considered an executive perquisite, is coming under fire from skeptical stockholders, government regulators and corporate officials themselves who wonder if it is being abused for pleasure travel or family ferrying. A DuPont executive said company planes can be used only for business with a form duly filed. The Internal Revenue Service is instructing agents to check flight logbooks for signs of taxable non-business use. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 941.91 (+5.43, +0.58%)
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* |
| May 17, 1977 | 936.48 | 99.77 | 22.29 |
| May 16, 1977 | 932.50 | 99.47 | 21.17 |
| May 13, 1977 | 928.34 | 99.03 | 19.78 |
| May 12, 1977 | 925.54 | 98.73 | 21.98 |
| May 11, 1977 | 926.90 | 98.78 | 18.98 |
| May 10, 1977 | 936.14 | 99.47 | 21.09 |
| May 9, 1977 | 933.90 | 99.18 | 15.23 |
| May 6, 1977 | 936.74 | 99.49 | 19.37 |
| May 5, 1977 | 943.44 | 100.11 | 23.45 |
| May 4, 1977 | 940.72 | 99.96 | 23.33 |