News stories from Monday August 2, 1976

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

Ronald Reagan's chief campaign strategist, John Sears, said that 12 convention delegates had endorsed Mr. Reagan in the last week. Most of them, he said, had previously been backers of President Ford, and he insisted that there had been no significant defections from Mr. Reagan since he named Senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate. James Baker, Mr. Ford's chief delegate scout, said that only three of the 12 delegates named by Mr. Sears as Reagan backers had been regarded as Ford supporters. [New York Times] Rain and fog grounded search helicopters for a while and slowed other rescue operations in the Big Thompson Canyon flood area in Colorado. The number of dead was estimated at 77. Sheriff Robert Watson of Larimer County said later that the evacuation of survivors had been completed. [New York Times] The Department of Justice reportedly has greatly increased the scope of its investigation begun earlier this year into allegations that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents burglarized the homes and offices of militant political figures over the last five years. According to sources close to the investigation, department lawyers informed some 50 agents last week that they were under investigation in connection with the burglaries and advised them that they might be called to testify. This brings to 75 the number of agents and officials now involved in the inquiry. [New York Times] The legality of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company's private-line service tariff was upheld by an administrative law judge of the Federal Communications Commission, who said that A.T.&T.'s long distance telephone rates were reasonable in relation to its rate of return. Judge David Kraushaar also disagreed strongly with an F.C.C. trial staff recommendation that the commission ask Congress to divest A.T.&T. of the Western Electric Company, its manufacturing and supply subsidiary. His findings are subject to a separate inquiry by the F.C.C. itself on the legality of the A.T.&T.'s private-line tariff, but his findings will take effect in 50 days unless there is a review. [New York Times] The search for the Loch Ness monster has been simplified and the leader of the expedition, Dr. Robert Rifles of Boston, has gone back to what he calls "the basics." The simplification was partly a matter of choice and partly a matter of necessity: All the experts on the search team, including Dr. Rifles, have returned home for business or personal reasons. The expedition will now be in the hands of three residents of the Loch Ness area, who have been shown how to operate the equipment. [New York Times] Israel has moved to preserve the calm that has prevailed in recent months along its border with southern Lebanon and prevent Palestinian forces from reasserting their control there. Israeli security forces have increased their patrols on both sides of the frontier to block any Palestinian redeployment and to discourage Palestinian reprisals against Lebanese who have been crossing the frontier in search of medical treatment and supplies. Israel has also expanded its "open fence" policy to allow Lebanese to take temporary jobs in Israeli factories. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 982.26 (-2.38, -0.24%)
S&P Composite: 103.19 (-0.25, -0.24%)
Arms Index: 0.99

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	631	5.54
Declines	703	6.10
Unchanged	483	2.23
Total Volume		13.87

* 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*
July 30, 1976	984.64	103.44	14.83
July 29, 1976	979.29	102.93	13.33
July 28, 1976	981.33	103.05	16.00
July 27, 1976	984.13	103.48	15.58
July 26, 1976	991.51	104.07	13.53
July 23, 1976	990.91	104.06	15.87
July 22, 1976	991.08	103.93	15.60
July 21, 1976	989.44	103.82	18.35
July 20, 1976	988.29	103.72	18.61
July 19, 1976	990.83	104.29	18.20