News stories from Friday September 21, 1979

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

Oil and gas exploration was approved by the administration for the Georges Bank fishing grounds. The administration turned down a sanctuary designation which had been sought for the area off Cape Cod by fishermen and environmentalists. The Interior Department will proceed with sales of leases on more than 660,000 acres of the Georges Bank. [New York Times] More political pressure will be exerted by President Carter. Stung by a series of setbacks in Congress, Mr. Carter told a group of Democratic Congressmen that he would be more political in the future, rewarding his friends, punishing his enemies and enforcing more "discipline" among the party's ranks. Some Congressmen said the President's remarks were insensitive. Others said they were long overdue, but most of them agreed that no matter what Mr. Carter did, he could not exert much influence in Congress. [New York Times] No trains moved on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad despite a back-to-work order to striking employees from President Carter. Meanwhile, officials of the bankrupt line, which has been stalled for more than three weeks by the strike, made an effort in federal district court in Chicago to get money to resume operations when workers returned. The railroad is considered vital to shipment of grain and other products in the Middle West. [New York Times] Non-smokers will live two years longer than smokers, according to a federal report, which compared people who were smoking before the health warnings about cigarettes were posted in the 1950's with smokers and non-smokers today. The study examined how consumers have changed their smoking habits since publicity about the dangers of smoking increased in the 1950's, and especially since the 1964 report on smoking and health by the Surgeon General of the United States. [New York Times] The White House asked City Hall to provide information about federal legislation that would be helpful to New York City and pending federal grants requested by the city. The request reportedly came on Wednesday, a day before it was announced that President Carter would visit the city on Tuesday. Deputy Mayor Nathan Leventhal confirmed that the data had been prepared, but denied that Mr. Carter's visit and details of the federal aid the city was seeking were linked. [New York Times] A major concession in London was made by the Salisbury government, which accepted "the general principles" of the constitutional changes that Britain has proposed for Zimbabwe Rhodesia. But Prime Minister Abel Muzorewa said acceptance was contingent on a number of details and "subsequent steps," which he declined to specify. Former Prime Minister Ian Smith, a member of the predominantly black Salisbury delegation, apparently did not support the decision, which raised doubts about its support among his country's white minority. [New York Times] Mexico will sell the U.S. natural gas under an agreement announced by the two countries that ended more than two years of sporadic and often heated negotiations. [New York Times] The Soviet Union was rebuffed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, which voted to allow the representative of the ousted Pol Pot regime to occupy Cambodia's seat in the General Assembly. The vote, by 2 to 1 margin, was a victory for China and its allies, the non-Communist nations of Southeast Asia. [New York Times] France sent troops to Bangui following the overthrow of the self-proclaimed Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire. The country has been renamed the Central African Republic and its new chief of state is David Dacko, a cousin of the deposed dictator who had been the country's first president following its independence from France in 1960. [New York Times] Britain and France started to wind up their controversial Concorde project, which has cost them $2.46 billion. They have agreed to "allocate" the last five unsold supersonic airliners to their flag carriers, British Airways and Air France. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 893.94 (+0.25, +0.03%)
S&P Composite: 110.47 (-0.04, -0.04%)
Arms Index: 0.97

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	850	25.67
Declines	668	19.57
Unchanged	402	7.14
Total Volume		52.38

* 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 20, 1979	893.69	110.51	45.10
September 19, 1979	876.45	108.28	35.37
September 18, 1979	874.15	108.00	38.75
September 17, 1979	881.31	108.84	37.61
September 14, 1979	879.10	108.76	42.01
September 13, 1979	870.73	107.85	35.24
September 12, 1979	870.90	107.82	39.35
September 11, 1979	869.71	107.51	42.54
September 10, 1979	876.88	108.17	33.00
September 7, 1979	874.15	107.66	34.37