News stories from Friday May 17, 1974

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

Five suspected members of the Symbionese Liberation Army were killed by the Los Angeles police in an hour-long gun battle that ended when fire swept the suspected S.L.A. hideout. The victims were not positively identified, and there were no indications that Patricia Hearst was with the group. According to unofficial reports, those inside the hideout included Donald DeFreeze, the S.L.A. leader who styled himself General Field Marshal Cinque, and Camilla Hall and two members of the group. The bodies were reportedly burned beyond recognition in the blaze in a black slum near Watts. [New York Times] The transcript of President Nixon's conversation with John Mitchell and H.R. Haldeman on June, 30, 1972, indicates that the three men related Mr. Mitchell's resignation as the President's campaign director to the Watergate burglary and not to the family responsibilities Mr. Mitchell gave as the reason for his departure in sworn testimony before the Senate Watergate committee. A portion of the June 30 tape, which was not included in the transcripts released by the White House, was heard by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. [New York Times] A Florida county judge dismissed a misdemeanor indictment against Senator Edward Gurney, who had been accused of violating a state election law by accepting campaign contributions without naming a campaign treasurer or setting up a campaign bank account. In dismissing the indictment, the judge called the law unconstitutional and criticized as improper and illegal the advice given the indicting grand jury by a Democratic state representative, who had asked for the investigation. [New York Times] The performance of the economy was a bit worse than had been estimated earlier for the first quarter, according to the Commerce Department, which released figures indicating a larger than expected rate of inflation and a sharper decline in total output than had been predicted. [New York Times] Representative Angelo Roncallo was acquitted of extortion charges by a federal jury in Westbury, Long Island, and promptly announced that he would ask the House of Representatives to investigate his indictment and would institute a suit against those responsible for it. Mr. Roncallo and a co-defendant were acquitted on all four counts of an indictment charging them with pressuring a businessman to make a $1,000 political donation. [New York Times] Governor Wilson of New York, citing "sufficient benefit", signed a bill requiring the death penalty for those convicted of murdering a policeman or prison worker and for any murder committed by a life-term prisoner. In announcing his signing of the limited death-penalty bill, Mr. Wilson said it appeared to be constitutional. [New York Times] At least 23 people were killed and about 80 critically injured in Dublin when three bombs planted in automobiles exploded simultaneously during the height of the evening rush hour. The blasts, which caused, more casualties than any other attack since the fighting over Northern Ireland began five years ago, were followed a short time later by a bombing in a small town 80 miles to the north, where five people were killed. Officials did not indicate which side was suspected, but there was a widespread belief in Dublin that extremist Protestants had set the bombs. [New York Times] In a second day of reprisals for the attack on Maalot, Israeli planes bombed villages in eastern Lebanon, but the day's raids were reportedly lighter than the initial Israeli air attack, which was described as the heaviest ever against Lebanon. A spokesman in Damascus said that Syrian jets had challenged the Israeli planes over Lebanon, but Israeli spokesmen denied a Syrian report that an Israeli jet had been shot down by Syrian planes. [New York Times] Frustrated by the inability of Israel and Syria to overcome the final obstacles to a troop separation agreement, Secretary of State Kissinger made his own proposals to Israel, in hopes of achieving an agreement before his planned return to Washington this weekend. American officials, who reported the two sides "excruciatingly near" agreement, said that Mr. Kissinger expected to know by tomorrow night whether his current mission to the Middle East could produce a concrete pact. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 818.84 (-16.50, -1.98%)
S&P Composite: 88.21 (-1.51, -1.68%)
Arms Index: 1.70

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	229	1.22
Declines	1,233	11.18
Unchanged	324	1.47
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*
May 16, 1974	835.34	89.72	12.09
May 15, 1974	846.06	90.45	11.24
May 14, 1974	847.85	90.69	10.88
May 13, 1974	845.59	90.66	11.29
May 10, 1974	850.44	91.47	15.27
May 9, 1974	865.77	92.96	14.71
May 8, 1974	850.99	91.64	11.85
May 7, 1974	847.15	91.46	10.71
May 6, 1974	844.88	91.12	9.45
May 3, 1974	845.90	91.29	11.08