News stories from Monday January 31, 1977

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

Curbs on prices and wages will be sought by his administration, President Carter said in an economic message to Congress outlining his previously announced $31.2 billion tax and job stimulus program. But the President's economic deputy, Charles Schultze, said Mr. Carter still opposed outright controls. The President said he plans soon to announce a "substantial strengthening" of the Council on Wage and Price Stability. [New York Times] Heavy snow storms struck northern New York state again, dropping 18 inches of snow in the Watertown area within 24 hours. The State Public Service Commission estimated that 250,000 employees in factories and businesses had been forced out of work because of controls on natural gas supplies. Governor Carey asked President Carter to give federal disaster status to nine western New York counties, an upgrading of emergency-aid declarations that were made earlier for four of the counties. The President, meanwhile, declared 35 Florida counties a major disaster area. [New York Times] Buffalo remained isolated and paralyzed after the worst winter storm in its history. City crews and the National Guard were defeated by howling winds and drifting snow as they tried to plow pathways through the city. The blizzard killed seven persons. The economic loss was estimated in the millions of dollars. [New York Times] The White House supported the Senate Banking Committee's opposition to a proposed five-year extension of the $2.3 billion federal loan assistance to New York City beyond the June 30, 1978, expiration date. Earlier, the Senate Banking Committee said that the city "is on target" in its financial recovery plan and that there was "no need at the present time for any additional federal assistance." [New York Times] Continued cold weather through February would make negligible most of the $8 billion stimulus expected from the $50 income tax rebate President Carter has proposed, and it could affect the economy's performance for the rest of the year. This is the view shared with varying degrees of emphasis by three leading economic forecasting services, which use computerized models of the economy to predict its reaction to changes. Stores in areas affected by the severe cold and the fuel shortage suffered losses that are mostly believed to be irrecoverable. [New York Times] The New Jersey legislature passed a bill prescribing the death sentence for first-degree murder when the crime was particularly vicious and the victim did nothing to bring it on himself. The convicting jury would not set the penalty. [New York Times] The Senate approved, 91 to 2, the Carter administration's emergency bill authorizing federal shifting of natural gas to protect service to homes, small stores and essential public services. The emergency authority expires April 30. [New York Times] Stock prices, apparently influenced by the weather and the nation's energy problems, declined moderately. The Dow Jones industrial was off 3.16 points at the close to 954.37. Its low for the session was 9.64 points. The recovery was attributed to bargain hunting. Fixed-income securities advanced and then fell back, closing little changed from Friday as the credit markets headed into this week's schedule of Treasury sales. The most interesting news of the day was the LTV Corporation's 9¼ percent yield on an offering of debentures. The rate had not appeared on new issues since last July. Orange juice futures cut short their sharp recent rise -- 10 consecutive limit advances of 3 cents a pound. [New York Times] "Tough" and "comprehensive" were the terms used by a congressional critic to describe a new code of ethics approved by a panel in the House. The proposed code would limit for the first time the outside earned income of members of Congress. It would also require disclosure of income, investments and debts. [New York Times] The Carter administration will "speak frankly about injustice" wherever it occurs -- including the Soviet Union -- but only "from time to time" and in a non-provocative way, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said at a wide-ranging news conference at the State Department. [New York Times] American-Soviet accommodation of the kind that flourished in President Nixon's time is an objective of the Soviet leadership for which it is looking to the Carter administration for help, despite an early run-in over human rights. Moscow seemed surprised at the spirited defense of Andrei Sakharov, the physicist and human rights advocate, but nevertheless hopes new momentum will be added to the sluggish detente policy. [New York Times] Mexico's new President, Jose Lopez Portillo, acknowledged that his country is going through a period of crisis, and said that "two basic priorities" of his administration were to improve the supply of "food and energy" to the Mexican people, thus guaranteeing them "at least minimum levels of subsistence." This will be done, he said in an interview, through a program of economic restructuring in both agriculture and industry. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 954.37 (-3.16, -0.33%)
S&P Composite: 102.03 (+0.10, +0.10%)
Arms Index: 0.91

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	603	8.34
Declines	922	11.60
Unchanged	376	2.98
Total Volume		22.92

* 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*
January 28, 1977	957.53	101.93	22.70
January 27, 1977	954.54	101.79	24.36
January 26, 1977	958.53	102.34	27.84
January 25, 1977	965.92	103.13	26.34
January 24, 1977	963.60	103.25	22.89
January 21, 1977	962.43	103.32	23.93
January 20, 1977	959.03	102.97	26.52
January 19, 1977	968.67	103.85	27.12
January 18, 1977	962.43	103.32	24.38
January 17, 1977	967.25	103.73	21.06