News stories from Tuesday January 21, 1975

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

President Ford moved to head off a drive in Congress and elsewhere for gasoline rationing. He said that he would veto mandatory rationing by itself as a superficial answer to the need to use less energy. He told his news conference that rationing was short-sighted, inequitable and inadequate to meet the long-range goal of ending dependence on foreign sources. He also said that he would ask Congress to defer passage of national health insurance because of projected budget deficits. [New York Times] The Labor Department reported that the rise in consumer prices abated a little in December but that 1974 was the worst year since 1946 in consumer price inflation. The December increase in the Consumer Price Index was seven-tenths of 1 percent -- one of the smallest monthly increases of the year and well below the rate for the previous four months. [New York Times] Al Ullman of Oregon, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told its organizing meeting that President Ford had concurred in the committee's plan to concentrate on a tax-cut bill and to defer consideration of increased oil taxes. Mr. Ford had wanted action on both, but Mr. Ullman argued that the committee could not act swiftly on an antirecession tax cut while considering the more controversial and complex energy tax problem. [New York Times] The Supreme Court, in overruling its 1961 decision, said that shifting economic and social patterns have made it constitutionally unacceptable for states to deny women equal opportunity to serve on juries. The 8-1 majority broke new ground when it said that women's role in society was changing and that the courts must recognize their growing economic independence in contemporary life. [New York Times] President Ford denounced North Vietnam for violating the Paris cease-fire accords and confirmed that he would ask Congress for $300 million in additional military aid to South Vietnam. He said at a televised press conference today that he could not foresee the re-entry of the United States into the war but that he did not rule out the possibility of asking Congress to let him use American air power or naval power against North Vietnam. He backed Secretary of State Kissinger's "hypothetical" comment that if the West was undergoing "actual strangulation" he might consider force against oil producers. [New York Times] Ten men and three women were found murdered in a Montreal tavern, locked in a room before the building was set on fire. The police believed the mass killing, one of the worst crimes in modern Canadian history, was the work of gangsters. It came as a harsh shock to Canadians who think of their society as peaceful and nonviolent, in contrast to the United States. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 641.90 (-5.55, -0.86%)
S&P Composite: 70.70 (-0.38, -0.53%)
Arms Index: 1.59

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	746	5.25
Declines	591	6.61
Unchanged	456	2.92
Total Volume		14.78

* 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*
January 20, 1975	647.45	71.08	13.45
January 17, 1975	644.63	70.96	14.25
January 16, 1975	655.74	72.05	17.11
January 15, 1975	653.39	72.14	16.58
January 14, 1975	648.70	71.68	16.61
January 13, 1975	654.18	72.31	19.78
January 10, 1975	658.79	72.61	25.89
January 9, 1975	645.26	71.17	16.34
January 8, 1975	635.40	70.04	15.60
January 7, 1975	641.19	71.02	14.33