News stories from Wednesday June 26, 1974

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

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee won a major partisan fight when the panel agreed definitely to call five key witnesses before its inquiry into the possible impeachment of President Nixon. They are Alexander Butterfield, Herbert Kalmbach, Henry Petersen, John Dean and Fred LaRue. Five others will be interviewed by the staff but will not necessarily be called. [New York Times] Federal Judge Gerhard Gesell made public the list of defense and prosecution witnesses in the White House "plumbers" trial. The names included Henry Kissinger, Gen. Alexander Haig, Leonard Garment and George Shultz. Most were summoned by attorneys for John Ehrlichman, ,who is accused of conspiring with three other defendants to burglarize the office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg's former psychiatrist in Los Angeles. [New York Times] The American Medical Association voted overwhelmingly to cooperate with the government in establishing a system of monitoring care given under the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Delegates turned back minority objections but agreed to seek to amend some portions of the two-year-old law. The leadership had called a campaign to repeal the law unrealistic. [New York Times] The United States Steel Corporation, the biggest American steelmaker, will raise prices July 1 on products accounting for about one-half of its total shipments. Included are products widely used by the automotive, construction, shipbuilding and appliance industries. The company said the increases would average about 5.5 percent on total steel mill products. [New York Times] The Supreme Court will let the second largest bank in the state of Washington acquire the third largest in Spokane. The 5-to-3 decision rejected the argument of government antitrust lawyers that potential competition in the area would be reduced. It was a setback for a theory that a merger should be barred if it might reduce competition in the future if not now. [New York Times] A draft report by the staff of the Senate Watergate committee on campaign practices of Democratic presidential candidates in 1972 found that both Hubert Humphrey and Wilbur Mills received illegal funds from corporations including Associated Milk Producers, Inc., which also contributed heavily to the Nixon re-election campaign. The unreleased staff report links Senator Humphrey to pressure to increase the milk support price. [New York Times] President Nixon and other leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance signed a new declaration intended to insure close consultation and end bickering among them. In private meetings as well, Mr. Nixon gave the allies assurances that he would protect their interests in his Moscow talks with the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev. The ceremony marked the formal conclusion of some 14 months of bargaining. [New York Times] President Nixon's left leg is still swollen from phlebitis but is no longer giving him pain, Ron Ziegler, his press secretary, said. Mr. Ziegler said that the President chose to keep the ailment a secret on his Middle East trip to avoid concern by his hosts. His physician said there was no further possibility of clotting, the press secretary reported. In Brussels the President walked the streets and shook hands in the role of a super-active world leader. [New York Times] The Brussels NATO meeting was also a makeshift summit of their own for many of Europe's new leaders. Between the speeches and ceremonies they held bilateral meetings on more immediate problems. West Germany's new Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, in particular, emphasized at every encounter that the issues of inflation, currency and employment were uppermost. [New York Times] Thousands of peasants from all over Italy paraded with tractors across Rome in preparation for a one-day walkout by 1.7 million farmhands that industrial workers will back with a four-hour stoppage. A nationwide contract with higher pay and a guaranteed minimum income is the farmhands' goal, while the industrial workers blame government policies for squeezing wage earners but not the rich. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 816.96 (-11.89, -1.43%)
S&P Composite: 87.61 (-1.37, -1.54%)
Arms Index: 1.94

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	330	1.48
Declines	986	8.60
Unchanged	437	1.33
Total Volume		11.41

* 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*
June 25, 1974	828.85	88.98	11.92
June 24, 1974	816.33	87.69	9.95
June 21, 1974	815.39	87.46	11.83
June 20, 1974	820.79	88.21	11.99
June 19, 1974	826.11	88.84	10.55
June 18, 1974	830.26	89.45	10.11
June 17, 1974	833.23	90.04	9.68
June 14, 1974	843.09	91.30	10.03
June 13, 1974	852.08	92.34	11.54
June 12, 1974	848.56	92.06	11.15