News stories from Thursday April 24, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A Senate-House conference tentatively agreed on legislation that would give President Ford limited authority to use United States troops to evacuate Americans and some Vietnamese from Saigon. The bill would also allot $327 million to pay for the evacuation and finance humanitarian aid to South Vietnam. [New York Times]
- The head of President Ford's Refugee Task Force in Washington said he was trying to accelerate the evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon. As fears rose that time was running out for an orderly evacuation, the refugee official, Ambassador L. Dean Brown, said about 5,000 persons were being flown from Saigon to Guam daily, and that he hoped to see the evacuation rate raised to more than 8,000 a day. He said that if Communist forces begin shelling the Saigon airfield, the rescue program would be forced to stop. [New York Times]
- Some 5,000 Vietnamese were flown from Saigon to Guam as the evacuation continued. Though Communists forces made only limited gains along Saigon's shrinking defense perimeter, fear about the city's future intensified. Pan American World Airways halted its flights from the city, four embassies closed and the number of Americans remaining in the city dropped to about 1,500 from 7,500 last month. [New York Times]
- The Viet Cong strongly implied that the only acceptable head of a Saigon government would be Gen. Duong Van Minh, a longtime advocate of peace, neutrality and cooperation with the Communists. Though the general was not specifically endorsed or even named, a Viet Cong broadcast rejected as unacceptable virtually every other conceivable candidate. The Viet Cong also made it clear that General Minh must have no mandate other than his acceptability to them. [New York Times]
- Terrorists shot their way into the West German Embassy in Stockholm, killed the military attache and seized hostages before blowing up part of the building after their demands for the release of 26 anarchists who are imprisoned in West Germany had been rejected. [New York Times]
- Vice President Rockefeller apologized to the Senate for any "discourtesy" he might have shown when he presided over a debate on the filibuster rule two months ago. His refusal to recognize a leading defender of the old rule had enraged conservatives of both parties. But the carefully arranged ritual of apology and cordial responses from five Senators seemed to mark a cease-fire in the controversy. [New York Times]
- The House of Representatives approved a far-reaching revision of securities industry regulation that would lay the groundwork for a national market system. The bill, similar to one previously passed by the Senate, was approved as the House Banking and Currency Committee announced a major review of the nation's financial institutions and their regulation by agencies of the federal government. [New York Times]
- Syria and Jordan, reportedly prompted by the Soviet Union, have agreed to joint land and air force commands, according to official information reaching Paris from the Middle East. Such a decision would mean that Jordan, which has formerly relied on American arms and maintained a generally pro-American policy, was moving toward the Arab bloc supported by Moscow. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 803.66 (+1.17, +0.15%)
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* |
| April 23, 1975 | 802.49 | 86.12 | 20.04 |
| April 22, 1975 | 814.14 | 87.09 | 26.12 |
| April 21, 1975 | 815.86 | 87.23 | 23.96 |
| April 18, 1975 | 808.43 | 86.30 | 22.61 |
| April 17, 1975 | 819.46 | 87.25 | 32.65 |
| April 16, 1975 | 815.71 | 86.60 | 22.97 |
| April 15, 1975 | 815.08 | 86.30 | 29.62 |
| April 14, 1975 | 806.95 | 85.60 | 26.80 |
| April 11, 1975 | 789.50 | 84.18 | 20.16 |
| April 10, 1975 | 781.29 | 83.77 | 24.99 |