News stories from Wednesday September 1, 1976

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

Representatives of President Ford and his Democratic challenger, Jimmy Carter, agreed to hold the first of a series of three television debates on Sept. 23. They will discuss domestic and economic issues for 90 minutes. The dates and duration of the second and third debates are not set, but the second will be on foreign policy and defense matters and the third was described as "open to discussion on all issues." Their vice-presidential running mates, Senator Robert Dole and Senator Walter Mondale, will hold a television debate between the second and third of the series. [New York Times] Senate and House conferees working on the tax bill agreed that penalties should be imposed on United States companies that comply with the Arab boycott of Israel. The penalties would be less than in the Senate bill and the actions subject to penalty would be more carefully defined. But the Ford administration raised the possibility that the bill might be vetoed because of this provision. The administration contends that tax penalties would not affect the Arab boycott but would hurt relations with Arab countries, harm United States companies and impair efforts for Middle East peace. [New York Times] The House, by 384 to 0, and the Senate, by a voice vote, sent to President Ford a "sunshine" bill that would require some 50 federal boards to conduct most of their business in public. Representative Bella Abzug of Manhattan had sponsored it in the House and Senator Lawton Chiles, Democrat of Florida, in the Senate. Closed meetings could be held only under specified circumstances when matters such as defense and foreign policy were discussed. [New York Times] Representative Wayne Hays, Democrat of Ohio, resigned his seat effective immediately, in letters to House Speaker Carl Albert and Gov. James Rhodes of Ohio. He failed to get a pledge of no further House action against him. [New York Times] President Ford asked Attorney General Edward Levi for a quick report on allegations that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Clarence Kelley, had improperly accepted gifts from subordinates. Mr. Levi said that a report that one Justice Department lawyer who had seen the information against Mr. Kelley had recommended his dismissal was inexact. [New York Times] Accompanied by seven lawyers, Mayor Beame of New York City spent more than five hours with S.E.C. investigators to answer questions regarding allegations of fraud in city finances. Many experts say the investigation will produce recommendations for nationwide changes in municipal finance and may also give local politicians big problems. [New York Times] The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the accounting firm of Seidman & Seidman, formerly headed by L. William Seidman, now President Ford's economic coordinator, of negligence in auditing the books of the Equity Funding Corporation of America and three other companies. Mr. Seidman denied involvement. [New York Times] Prime Minister John Vorster said in Johannesburg on the eve of his departure for talks in Zurich with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that "moral lessons and threats" from other countries would make no impression on South Africa. His primary target was Mr. Kissinger's speech Tuesday terming apartheid incompatible with human dignity. Mr. Vorster also assailed recent statements by the leader of the South-West African People's Organization, calling for United Nations sanctions against South Africa, as unacceptable. [New York Times] The government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi formally introduced constitutional amendments that would give her sweeping new legislative powers and India's small parliamentary opposition protested bitterly. The President, acting at the Prime Minister's behest, would obtain virtually unlimited power to amend the Constitution further. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 985.95 (+12.21, +1.25%)
S&P Composite: 104.06 (+1.15, +1.12%)
Arms Index: 0.43

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	999	13.23
Declines	386	2.22
Unchanged	468	3.19
Total Volume		18.64

* 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*
August 31, 1976	973.74	102.91	15.48
August 30, 1976	968.92	102.07	11.14
August 27, 1976	963.93	101.48	12.12
August 26, 1976	960.44	101.32	15.27
August 25, 1976	970.83	102.03	17.40
August 24, 1976	962.93	101.27	16.74
August 23, 1976	971.49	101.96	15.45
August 20, 1976	974.07	102.37	14.92
August 19, 1976	983.88	103.39	17.23
August 18, 1976	995.01	104.56	17.15