News stories from Friday March 22, 1974

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

At least one of three wiretaps authorized by President Nixon for "national security" reasons provided the White House with political intelligence about the Democratic presidential campaign of Senator Edmund Muskie, according to sources who have seen written summaries of the overheard conversations. A federal judge ordered the Nixon administration to turn records of the taps over to Morton Halperin, a former official who joined the Muskie campaign after leaving the government in April, 1970. Mr. Halperin is suing several present and former administration officials on the ground that the wiretap, which was not authorized by a court order, was illegal. [New York Times] The federal government has designated two large areas in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island and New Jersey as suitable sites for the dumping of sewage sludge as alternatives to the present grounds 12 miles east of New Jersey and 10 miles south of Long Island. [New York Times] The Council on Environmental Quality, a federal agency, in a step that brings closer the start of offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic, implied that while such drilling was environmentally acceptable, it should not be done within 30 to 50 miles of New Jersey, Long Island or Cape Cod. [New York Times] Nelson Gross, former Republican chairman in New Jersey, angrily charged the United States Attorney's office with trying to "devastate" his law practice by calling his firm's clients "all over the state." He is on trial for allegedly counseling a client to hide a campaign contribution illegally and then lie about it to a grand jury. His outburst ended his two days of testimony in Federal Court in Newark. [New York Times] The Senate unanimously approved legislation that would revolutionize procedures for considering the federal budget and setting national priorities. The legislation is intended to provide better congressional control over how much money the government spends and what it spends it for. It was passed in response to President Nixon's repeated criticism of Congress for fiscal irresponsibility. The Senate bill was passed by a vote of 80 to 0 and will now go to a conference with the House, which passed a comparable bill last year. [New York Times] The Civil Aeronautics Board, blaming a precipitous rise in the price of jet fuel, authorized the nation's domestic airlines to raise fares 4 percent, effective April 16. The agency also indicated that it would sanction an additional 2 percent increase on the same date if the airlines ask for it. [New York Times] The Viet Cong proposed a six-point plan that included detailed provisions for a new cease-fire and the holding of general elections in South Vietnam. American officials who read the plan said it was the most concrete put forward by the Viet Cong since the Paris cease-fire agreement last year. [New York Times] The French Foreign Minister, Michel Jobert, has warned the Arab oil countries that they must treat European consumers on an equal basis if they want special links with Europe. Without quite saying so, he called for removal of the embargo against the Netherlands and Denmark in return for holding the controversial Arab-European conference of foreign ministers that has so annoyed Washington. [New York Times] A West German steel consortium has concluded a $1 billion agreement with the Soviet Union for an iron and steel plant to be built near Kursk, 280 miles southwest of Moscow. The West German Economics Minister, Hans Friderichs, said the plant would be the largest East-West industrial project since World War II. [New York Times] Peter Revson, America's top road-racing driver, was killed in Johannesburg when his car crashed and burst into flames during a practice run for the South Africa Grand Prix next Saturday. He was 35 years old and was from New York. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 878.13 (+2.66, +0.30%)
S&P Composite: 97.27 (-0.07, -0.07%)
Arms Index: 0.98

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	541	4.05
Declines	836	6.13
Unchanged	403	1.75
Total Volume		11.93

* 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*
March 21, 1974	875.47	97.34	12.95
March 20, 1974	872.34	97.57	12.96
March 19, 1974	867.57	97.23	12.80
March 18, 1974	874.22	98.05	14.01
March 15, 1974	887.83	99.28	14.50
March 14, 1974	889.78	99.65	19.77
March 13, 1974	891.66	99.74	16.82
March 12, 1974	887.12	99.15	17.25
March 11, 1974	888.45	98.88	18.47
March 8, 1974	878.05	97.78	16.21