News stories from Friday October 24, 1975

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

Generalissimo Francisco Franco's doctors reported that his heart condition had further deteriorated. Spain's leaders were said to have decided that he would soon have to give up power to Prince Juan Carlos de Borbon, his designated successor. [New York Times] A grand jury has indicted Sara Jane Moore for allegedly seeking to kill President Ford in San Francisco Sept. 22. [New York Times] Saying that "the President is convinced" that Americans want a bigger tax cut, the White House assailed as "too small" the tax reduction bill approved Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee. The panel's bill would add $2.6 billion next year to the reductions in 1975 taxes that took effect last spring. [New York Times] Former Attorney General John Mitchell told a Senate committee that officials of the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. had never told him that the agencies were secretly opening mail. On Wednesday, Richard Helms, former director of the C.I.A., testified that he had informed Mr. Mitchell of the mail project in June, 1970, but added that "in those times I'm not sure the Attorney General knew the difference" between a "mail cover," or surveillance, and the actual opening of letters. [New York Times] The F.B.I. has kept in its files most of the 15,000 names of individuals who, from 1939 to 1971, were targeted for detention in the event of a national emergency, according to sources familiar with the internal operations of the bureau. The disclosure was made two days after Clarence Kelley, the F.B.I. director, assured Congress that the defunct "security index" could not be "reconstructed." [New York Times] Senator William Proxmire, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, was said to probably have the minimum votes needed to approve a bill to save New York City from default. But, several members of the panel said, the Wisconsin Democrat is unable to prevent a delay in committee action until next week. [New York Times] On Wall Street, stock prices fell sharply amid mounting concern that the federal government would not save New York City from default. The Dow-Jones industrial average dropped 14.64 to 840.52, giving up more than half the gains it had made in a previous four-day advance. [New York Times] Roman Catholic theologians in Rome have begun to debate publicly the moral issues in the case of Karen Anne Quinlan, the 21-year-old coma victim whose parents have asked legal permission to turn off the mechanical devices keeping her alive. [New York Times] New fears of an impending coup, heightened by six minor bomb blasts, caused Portugal's leaders to order a national alert for the armed forces. The official explanation for the alert was fear of sabotage and "armed actions by extreme right-wing groups." Lisbon's military commanders were summoned to an urgent strategy meeting, but the capital remained calm, with no overt evidence of any unusual military measures. [New York Times] Ismail Erez, Turkey's Ambassador to France, was fatally shot in Paris by assassins who also killed his chauffeur. Two days earlier, Danis Tunaligil, the Turkish Ambassador to Austria, was slain in Vienna. The authorities had no official explanation for the slayings, but a Turkish Embassy source in Paris said that the Ankara Government suspected an Armenian or Greek Cypriote group. [New York Times] The Soviet Union, according to leading American grain exporters, has bought 1.2 million tons of American corn since signing a five-year grain accord with the United States early this week. The accord resulted in the lifting of a two-month-long American embargo on grain sales to the Russians. Their harvest has been hard hit by bad weather. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 840.52 (-14.64, -1.71%)
S&P Composite: 89.83 (-1.41, -1.55%)
Arms Index: 1.65

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	515	4.08
Declines	890	11.66
Unchanged	417	2.37
Total Volume		18.11

* 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*
October 23, 1975	855.16	91.24	17.90
October 22, 1975	849.57	90.71	16.06
October 21, 1975	846.82	90.56	20.80
October 20, 1975	842.25	89.82	13.25
October 17, 1975	832.18	88.86	15.65
October 16, 1975	837.85	89.37	18.91
October 15, 1975	837.22	89.23	14.44
October 14, 1975	835.25	89.28	19.96
October 13, 1975	837.77	89.46	12.02
October 10, 1975	823.91	88.21	14.88