News stories from Friday April 26, 1974

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

President Nixon will reportedly seek public support next week for a decision to give the House Judiciary Committee transcripts rather than the tape recording of Watergate-related conversations subpoenaed for the impeachment inquiry. Dean Burch, counselor to the President, told a meeting of the Republican National Committee in Washington that Mr. Nixon would turn over "a massive body of evidence" to the committee. [New York Times] What has been called "the Don Nixon memorandum" throughout the 45-day Mitchell-Stans trial was the first official document the jury asked to review in its first full day of deliberations. Robert Vesco, who apparently wrote the memorandum, threatens President Nixon with disclosure of the secret $200,000 cash contribution he had made to the President's re-election campaign unless a federal investigation of Mr. Vesco's business affairs "is stopped promptly." [New York Times] Profits reported by major oil companies for the first quarter of 1974 have shown increases averaging nearly 80 percent from a year ago, but some analysts estimate that they may be much higher. A number of oil companies indicated that they had set aside certain amounts of profits to cover first quarter costs that might be incurred later this year, such as tax increases and higher retroactive costs of crude oil. [New York Times] The General Motors Corporation announced that its earnings in the first quarter of 1974 declined by 85 percent from the 1973 first quarter. Net income for the first quarter of 1974 was $120 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with $817 million, or $2.84 a share a year ago. It was the lowest first quarter figure since 1948. [New York Times] The prime rate for commercial bank loans -- one of the basic interest rates in the nation's economy -- moved to new high ground as the Franklin National Bank went to 11 percent from 10½ per cent, and several California banks went to 10¾ percent. The prime rate and the galaxy of other short-term rates such as Treasury bills, commercial paper and bank certificates of deposit also have risen rapidly. [New York Times] The Federal Aviation Administration ordered an emergency "in-depth" inspection of the world flight operations of Pan American World Airways following the crash on Monday of a Pan American Boeing 707 jet on Bali. It was the fourth crash of a Pan American 707 in the last nine months. [New York Times] Governor Byrne of New Jersey and Mrs. Ann Klein, the state's Commissioner of Institutions and Agencies, took what they said was a first step in closing the Trenton State Prison soon after an eruption of violence in which five guards and three inmates were injured. Eighty-three inmates are to vacate one of the prison's seven wings. Their cells will become office and storage space. [New York Times] Units of Ethiopia's Fourth Division in Addis Ababa and police commandos staged mutinies in Addis Ababa, military sources said. The situation in the capital was extremely confused during what appeared to be separate mutinies. [New York Times] A gang of armed art thieves directed by a young woman raided the mansion of Sir Alfred Belt, a gold-mining millionaire, in Blessington, near Dublin, tied up everyone in the house and stole masterpieces valued by the police at $20.4 million. Works by Goya, Reubens and Vermeer were among the stolen paintings. Dublin art sources said it was believed to be the biggest single art robbery ever. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 834.64 (+6.96, +0.84%)
S&P Composite: 90.18 (+0.61, +0.68%)
Arms Index: 0.87

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	786	6.85
Declines	565	4.30
Unchanged	414	2.10
Total Volume		13.25

* 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*
April 25, 1974	827.68	89.57	15.87
April 24, 1974	832.37	90.30	16.01
April 23, 1974	845.98	91.81	14.11
April 22, 1974	858.57	93.38	10.52
April 19, 1974	859.90	93.75	10.71
April 18, 1974	869.92	94.78	12.47
April 17, 1974	867.41	94.36	14.02
April 16, 1974	861.23	93.66	14.53
April 15, 1974	843.79	92.05	10.13
April 11, 1974	844.81	92.12	9.97