News stories from Friday March 23, 1979

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

The highest spurt of inflation in four and a half years was shown in government figures for last month, hurting consumers and the anti-inflation guidelines of the Carter administration. The Consumer Price Index rose 1.2 percent, representing a compound annual rate of 15.4 percent -- more than double the 7.4 percent increase the administration has forecast. [New York Times] The full powers of a special prosecutor were given to Paul Curran in the charter of his authority to investigate $7 million in bank loans to the Carter family's peanut warehouse business. But Attorney General Griffin Bell left Mr. Curran's title -- special counsel -- unchanged, saying this case, unlike Watergate, had developed no evidence of a crime. [New York Times] Restoring New England rail service is the goal of state legislators in Massachusetts and Connecticut. They began a joint effort to oppose plans by the federal government to curtail passenger service despite recent efforts to revitalize it. At stake is an inland route between New York and Boston that was scheduled to have been resumed this year, and a daily train between Montreal and Washington. [New York Times] Snows and gale-force winds swept the Plains states. More than 2,000 persons fled towns along a 100-mile stretch of the Illinois River amid warnings of the area's worst flooding in history. Up to seven inches of snow fell over wide regions of Kansas and halted power in most of the state. [New York Times] A Marine could be sentenced to death if he is convicted of charges of collaborating with the enemy in the Vietnam war, a Pentagon spokesman said. The Marine, Pfc. Robert Garwood, stayed voluntarily in Vietnam after being captured by the Viet Cong in 1965 but is now returning home. [New York Times] The U.S. seeks links with Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, President Carter said in interviews on Israeli and Egyptian television, but has "a problem" in dealing with the Palestine Liberation Organization. In separate interviews, he sought to encourage leaders of the more than one million Palestinians on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip to join the next round of peace talks.The Arab League's chief resigned on the ground that the forthcoming Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty had rendered impossible his effort for unity between Egypt and other Arab nations. The official, Mahmoud Riad, stepped down after seven years as Secretary General of the Arab group. [New York Times] Terrorism has shaken Guatemala. A campaign of assassinations and death threats against opposition politicians, labor leaders and university professors appears to be aimed at crushing the first mass movement in the country in 25 years. The military government has denied responsibility, although moderate opposition figures cite evidence of involvement by extremist groups in the army and the police. [New York Times] Protest and violence rocked Paris. Some 60,000 workers marched through the capital in a drive against unemployment and government plans to close much of the ailing steel industry. The demonstration ended with 150 radical youths rampaging, looting and fighting with the police in the worst violence since student riots in 1968. [New York Times] India will receive uranium from Washington. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the export of 18.5 tons of slightly enriched uranium to fuel a power station near Bombay. India's requests for uranium have been held up because of its opposition to an American law requiring recipients to open nuclear installations to international inspection by 1980. [New York Times] Washington warned Moscow against military intervention in the strife in Afghanistan and rejected Soviet allegations of American intervention in the Central Asian country. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 859.75 (-1.56, -0.18%)
S&P Composite: 101.60 (-0.07, -0.07%)
Arms Index: 0.96

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	764	11.96
Declines	667	10.00
Unchanged	471	11.61
Total Volume		33.57

* 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*
March 22, 1979	861.31	101.67	34.36
March 21, 1979	857.76	101.25	31.12
March 20, 1979	850.31	100.50	27.18
March 19, 1979	857.59	101.06	34.62
March 16, 1979	852.82	100.69	31.77
March 15, 1979	847.02	99.86	29.37
March 14, 1979	845.37	99.71	24.65
March 13, 1979	846.93	99.84	31.17
March 12, 1979	844.68	99.67	25.75
March 9, 1979	842.86	99.54	33.41