News stories from Friday December 7, 1973

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

Gerald Ford began his first full day as Vice President. He conferred with President Nixon and later defended him at a news conference, insisting that the President has no intentions of resigning his office. Ford also added his opinion that no grounds exist for impeachment, and stated that President Nixon is an asset to the Republican party.The House of Representatives elected John Rhodes as minority leader, which was Ford's old job. Rhodes said that he thinks Nixon is a handicap to the Republican party, and he hopes the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment investigation will proceed rapidly and thoroughly. Many Congressmen agree with Rhodes that President Nixon will continue to be a liability to Republicans; more talk of resignation is circulating. [CBS] White House press secretary Ron Ziegler briefed selected newsmen regarding President Nixon's financial statement which will be made public tomorrow. Nixon availed himself of a tax break after donating his vice-presidential papers to charity. The papers apparently did actually arrive at the archives before Congress passed the law outlawing tax breaks on such gifts, but no deed of gift accompanied the papers and manuscript appraiser Ralph Newman insists that his appraisal of the Nixon papers didn't begin until November 1969 -- four months after Congress passed the law against such gifts getting tax breaks. Edward Morgan, former deputy counsel to the President, refused comment regarding the gift deed, and President Nixon's former tax attorney Frank DeMarco refused to be interviewed by CBS.Columbia University law professor George Cooper studied President Nixon's gift and consented to an interview with CBS. Cooper asserted that the transfer of the Nixon papers was not completed in time to receive a valid tax deduction. The tax returns of all presidents are kept in an IRS office; officials refused to discuss this matter. On November 17th, Nixon insisted that the IRS had raised no questions about the tax deduction in question, but he stated that if issues were to arise, the papers would be taken back and taxes paid. Appraiser Newman agreed that the papers have doubled in value since their original appraisal. [CBS] White House chief of staff Alexander Haig allegedly told White House appointees that he couldn't assure them that no more surprises regarding Watergate existed. Haig was not available for comment today. [CBS] President Nixon's former appointments secretary Dwight Chapin pleaded innocent to four charges of lying to a Watergate grand jury. His trial is set for February 19. [CBS] A judge in the Bahamas ruled against Robert Vesco's extradition to the United States. Charges against Vesco include illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign, and he was indicted along with Maurice Stans and John Mitchell. The Securities and Exchange Commission also has charges pending against Vesco. [CBS] The House gave final approval to the salary cutback bill which was designed to remove the barrier to Senator William Saxbe's approval as Attorney General. [CBS] The unemployment rate jumped from 4.5% to 4.7% for November. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that unemployment related to the current fuel shortage will begin to show up in the January report. [CBS] Truckers met with government officials in Washington to negotiate regarding higher speeds and lower fuel costs. The drivers parked their rigs on the outskirts of DC; however, the lobbying went peacefully. Transportation Secretary Claude Brinegar stated that refineries are currently in the process of making less gasoline and more distillates, and truckers must trust the government and be patient. Teamsters union president Frank Fitzsimmons said that all cars should be removed from the highways if necessary to make more fuel available to truckers. Truckers pulled out of DC after the meeting, but some talk of a nationwide truck stoppage still exists. Teamsters president Fitzsimmons will meet with President Nixon tomorrow. [CBS] A study by the Senate Interior Committee stated that grievous fuel shortages are to be expected unless gasoline rationing and other tough measures to deal with the energy crisis are used. [CBS] The Nixon administration requested that oil refineries make a 15% cut in the amount of gasoline that is sent to distributors in order to produce more diesel fuel and home heating oil; the oil industry is up in arms. Oil companies insist that increased distillate production is not technically feasible. Attorney Martin Lobel stated that the industry isn't producing more heating oil because higher profits can be made more easily on gasoline production. Gulf Oil company officials have projected a daily revenue loss. [CBS] The Postal Service was already facing delays in delivering Christmas mail because of the fuel shortage. Now Postmaster General Klassen has announced that some mail must be sent by train because of flight cutbacks. [CBS] Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met separately in Washington with Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan and Egyptian ambassador Ashraf Ghorbal. Dayan accused Saudi Arabia oil minister Ahmed Yamani of using oil as a political weapon against the U.S. and Israel. Kissinger leaves tomorrow for his visit to the Mideast. [CBS] For the first time in 20 years, comedian Bob Hope won't make his annual Christmas tour to entertain U.S. troops overseas. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 838.05 (+23.93, +2.94%)
S&P Composite: 96.51 (+2.09, +2.21%)
Arms Index: 0.73

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,339	18.63
Declines	276	2.80
Unchanged	236	1.80
Total Volume		23.23

* 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*
December 6, 1973	814.12	94.42	23.26
December 5, 1973	788.31	92.16	19.18
December 4, 1973	803.21	93.59	19.03
December 3, 1973	806.52	93.90	17.90
November 30, 1973	822.25	95.96	15.38
November 29, 1973	835.11	97.31	18.87
November 28, 1973	839.78	97.65	19.99
November 27, 1973	817.73	95.70	19.75
November 26, 1973	824.95	96.58	19.83
November 23, 1973	854.00	99.44	11.47