News stories from Tuesday August 27, 1974

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

The Ford administration has a personal go-ahead from the President for an attempt to identify all federal policies and programs that may be causing higher prices and adding to inflation -- for example, Interstate Commerce Commission rules barring truckers from shorter routes. Those making the review acknowledge that changes would bring economic injury to some, at least in the short run. [New York Times] Treasury Secretary William Simon told reporters that the spending target for the fiscal year 1975 is now $298 billion -- a cut of some $2 billion from previous administration targets. Another administration official said the new target seemed capable of achievement in view of recent congressional reductions in defense appropriations. This indicated that President Ford is now willing to let these defense cuts stand. [New York Times] Former President Richard Nixon has hired Herbert Miller, a Washington lawyer, to represent him in connection with the Watergate cover-up and other matters. Mr. Miller was counsel for Richard Kleindienst when the former Attorney General was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor rather than to a felony. Mr. Miller's task now, according to reliable sources, will be to persuade Leon Jaworski, the special Watergate prosecutor, not to seek an indictment of Mr. Nixon. [New York Times] Political friends and foes of Governor Rockefeller, replying to questions from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, apparently had nothing derogatory to report regarding his suitability to be confirmed as Vice President. This was the consensus of prominent politicians of both parties after their interviews by the F.B.I. agents. [New York Times] France will lift her embargo on arms sales to Middle East "battlefield" countries imposed in 1967 by President Charles de Gaulle. This decision is part of a fundamental review of defense policy, not yet complete but already definite on continuing French development of nuclear weapons. One aim is to convert France's submarine-based missiles to multiple independent re-entry vehicles. [New York Times] Preliminary talks in Washington with Israeli and Arab representatives leave the future course of negotiations unclear. Secretary of State Kissinger will probably fly to the Middle East in September or October to seek an agreement on the next stage. The Arab states are divided on this and the Israeli position is not yet explicit. Washington hopes to maintain the momentum of Israel's disengagement agreements with Egypt and Syria. [New York Times] Turkey rejected a Soviet call for an expanded peace conference, urging instead that Greece resume negotiations in Geneva "without delay." Ankara made public a statement presented to the Soviet Ambassador denying that the Cyprus crisis was an attempt to make the island a NATO stronghold. The statement said Turkish intervention sought to maintain Cyprus as an independent non-aligned state against any attempt to unite it with Greece. [New York Times] Greek Cypriote military and civilian leaders of varying political affiliations are planning to organize a Cypriote Liberation Army for guerrilla warfare against Turkish occupation forces unless the Cyprus crisis is settled. About 300 armed men are said to be already based in the Greek-controlled Trodos mountains on the island. [New York Times] A Soviet spacecraft with a crew of two is orbiting in preparation for docking with the Soviet orbital station launched in June. A senior Soviet space official said it was a preliminary exercise for the projected U.S.-U.S.S.R. link-up in space which is scheduled for next July. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 671.54 (-16.59, -2.41%)
S&P Composite: 70.94 (-1.22, -1.69%)
Arms Index: 1.95

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	322	1.54
Declines	1,063	9.89
Unchanged	397	1.54
Total Volume		12.97

* 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*
August 26, 1974	688.13	72.16	14.63
August 23, 1974	686.80	71.55	13.59
August 22, 1974	704.63	72.80	15.69
August 21, 1974	711.59	73.51	11.65
August 20, 1974	726.95	74.95	13.82
August 19, 1974	721.84	74.57	11.67
August 16, 1974	731.54	75.67	10.51
August 15, 1974	737.88	76.30	11.13
August 14, 1974	740.54	76.73	11.75
August 13, 1974	756.41	78.49	10.14