News stories from Thursday August 25, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- At least $240 million would be added to the nation's fuel bill under the cargo-preference legislation supported by the Carter administration, according to an estimate by the General Accounting Office. The figure is more than double the Commerce Department's estimate. The House version of the bill would require that 9.5 percent of imported oil be transported in United States flag ships. Republican critics say the proposal is "a blatant political payoff" to maritime unions. [New York Times]
- This country's fourth largest trade deficit on record was reported by the government for July. There was an excess of imports over exports despite a deliberate reduction in imports of oil and coffee. Exports rose by 0.4 percent to $10.15 billion, while imports declined 35 percent to $12.48 billion. The deficit amounted to $2.33 billion, compared with a record figure of $2.82 billion in June. [New York Times]
- Stock prices fell sharply following a government report of one of the worst trade deficits on record. The Dow Jones industrial average declined to its lowest level since Dec. 31, 1975, closing down 8.75 points to 854.12. Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by a 3 to 1 ratio. Some of the selling pressure was also attributed to advice given to institutional clients by a brokerage firm, which believes that recession, at least a slight one, is coming. The customers were advised to reduce their holdings in major electrical, domestic oil issues and construction machinery stocks. [New York Times]
- Ronald Reagan, saying that "we should examine alternative courses of action," declared his opposition to the Carter administration's plan to turn over control of the Panama Canal to Panama eventually. In a speech prepared for delivery to a conservative youth group, Mr. Reagan said the Senate should not ratify the new canal treaties with Panama. He had been briefed on the treaties by the American negotiators. [New York Times]
- A federal appeals court upheld the government's first sale of oil leases in the Atlantic Ocean to private companies which was voided a year ago by a lower court. The oil rights in an area beginning 60 miles south of Long Island and extending off the New Jersey coast to Maryland were sold for more than a billion dollars. The sale had been voided in a federal district court on the ground that the Department of the Interior had neglected environmental considerations, but the appeal court maintained that the department could deal with environmental problems that might develop.
The ruling will not mean a sudden flow of oil dollars to the Northeast, industry sources said. All-out production -- assuming that commercially profitable oil or gas deposits exist -- would not begin until late in 1980 at the earliest.
[New York Times] - Observers in this country and abroad are puzzled about a Soviet space vehicle that has been in orbit for a month. It is large enough to be manned but appears not to be, and its orbit and radio telemetry characteristics suggest that it is related to a manned space flight effort. Soviet space authorities have named the craft Cosmos 929 but have revealed virtually nothing about it. [New York Times]
- His four days of talks in Peking on normalizing Chinese-American relations were "candid and serious and enhanced our mutual understanding," Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said when they were over. But at a news conference he repeatedly declined to say whether the talks had led to any progress in settling the crucial issue of Taiwan. [New York Times]
- Britain's air traffic control assistants went on strike just before midnight over a wage issue. British Airways cancelled 67 flights, and most departures from Heathrow Airport were delayed many hours. The Civil Aviation Authority asked the 70 airlines using Heathrow to cut flights into and out of Britain by half. The principal American airlines advised passengers to check in for flights as usual. [New York Times]
- There was no comment from the Rhodesian government about the British-American proposal that a United Nations peacekeeping force maintain order during a transition to a black majority government. Authoritative sources in Salisbury, however, said that there is no prospect at all that the proposal would be accepted. [New York Times]
- Maintaining the capability of inflicting "unacceptable damage" to the Soviet Union even if it struck first with nuclear weapons is one of the principal objectives of a directive on national strategy given by President Carter to Defense Secretary Harold Brown and military planners. The directive would also commit this country to modest increases in defense spending, improve the combat ability of American forces to absorb an initial shock and establish light, mobile and flexible forces to meet threats in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and East Asia. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 854.12 (-8.75, -1.01%)
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* |
| August 24, 1977 | 862.87 | 97.23 | 18.17 |
| August 23, 1977 | 865.56 | 97.62 | 20.29 |
| August 22, 1977 | 867.29 | 97.79 | 17.87 |
| August 19, 1977 | 863.48 | 97.51 | 20.80 |
| August 18, 1977 | 864.26 | 97.68 | 21.04 |
| August 17, 1977 | 864.59 | 97.74 | 20.92 |
| August 16, 1977 | 869.28 | 97.73 | 19.34 |
| August 15, 1977 | 874.13 | 98.18 | 15.75 |
| August 12, 1977 | 871.10 | 97.88 | 16.87 |
| August 11, 1977 | 877.43 | 98.16 | 21.74 |