News stories from Friday January 14, 1977

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

President Carter in the White House will continue an "informal, open-door" policy that characterized his governorship of Georgia. He outlined plans for a loosely knit White House organization that would guarantee his accessibility to a relatively young staff dominated by Georgians. He also announced 11 appointments to that staff. [New York Times] Substantial pay increases for the Vice President, members of Congress, cabinet officers, federal judges and other high government officials will be proposed by President Ford in his budget message to Congress Monday. Congressional leaders said President-elect Carter promised to seek higher salaries for government officials if Mr. Ford did not. [New York Times] The country's transportation demands could be met by 1990 without increased consumption of energy, according to a 400-page planning prospectus issued by Transportation Secretary William Coleman. One of the energy-saving measures proposed in an increase in trucks' size and weight limits. [New York Times] Business inventories increased only 0.1 percent in November despite a major improvement in sales, the Commerce Department said. The ratio of inventories to sales was at its lowest level for November since wage-price controls ended. Economic controls deterred inventory building because businessmen tried to hold down inventories when the chance to earn sufficient profits was uncertain. [New York Times] Oil, natural gas and drilling issues, all energy-related, continued their advance on the stock exchange. They moved ahead on a combination of rising earnings, optimistic forecasts and the coldest winter in five years. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 3.99 points to 972.16. It had lost a total of 11 points over the week, and 32 points since the start of the new year. [New York Times] The American Dental Association was accused by the Federal Trade Commission of price fixing and other unlawful practices that allegedly prevent patients from benefiting from competition. The agency said that the dental group, through its professional codes, had eliminated competition among dentists and violated federal antitrust laws by barring advertising. [New York Times] Undergraduates have grown more conservative since the late 1960's on issues of academic policy, race and violent crime, according to an extensive study of colleges and universities. Among the most striking findings is a sharp drop -- from 60 percent in 1969 to 36 percent six years later -- in opposition to the death penalty. [New York Times] Richard Helms, former Director of Central Intelligence, is being investigated by a federal grand jury, his lawyer, Edward Bennett Williams, was told by the Justice Department. Mr. Helms, who resigned in December as Ambassador to Iran, has come under investigation on a charge of conspiring with officials of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation to fabricate and coordinate statements during a 1973 Senate investigation into activities by the corporation and the agency in Chile. [New York Times] Sir Anthony Eden, one of Britain's most influential and successful politicians until his involvement in the Suez invasion of 1956, died at his Wiltshire home. He was 79. An old friend of the United States, he made many trips to this country. The last of these was made this winter to the Florida home of Averell Harriman. He was flown home when he became critically ill with a liver ailment. [New York Times] Israel's emergence as an exporter of sophisticated military equipment, much of it derived from American technology, has caused concern in the State and Defense Departments. Officials in Washington believe that Israel may be exporting arms to countries currently subject to an American arms embargo and exporting equipment under American license, sometimes in competition with American companies. They also believe that Israel in one instance may have violated American law by selling six French Super-Mystere fighter-bombers equipped with American jet engines to Honduras.Israel's arms industry has grown rapidly since the war of 1973 and exports have sharply increased. Israeli military officials estimated that total exports sales in 1976 were valued at $320 million compared with pre-1973 sales averaging $60 million a year. [New York Times] The Geneva conference is "a dead duck," Prime Minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia said in an interview in Salisbury. He said he expects full diplomatic support from the United States in his government's efforts to seek accord with black Rhodesian groups outside the framework of the conference. He said he had been given assurances of the new administration's support by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 972.16 (-3.99, -0.41%)
S&P Composite: 104.01 (-0.19, -0.18%)
Arms Index: 0.81

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	817	12.56
Declines	622	7.71
Unchanged	458	4.21
Total Volume		24.48

* 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 13, 1977	976.15	104.20	24.78
January 12, 1977	968.25	103.40	22.67
January 11, 1977	976.65	104.12	24.10
January 10, 1977	986.87	105.20	20.86
January 7, 1977	983.13	105.01	21.72
January 6, 1977	979.89	105.02	23.92
January 5, 1977	978.06	104.76	25.01
January 4, 1977	987.87	105.70	22.74
January 3, 1977	999.75	107.00	21.28
December 31, 1976	1004.65	107.46	19.17