News stories from Wednesday September 4, 1974

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

Twenty-one economists, representing almost the entire spectrum of economic opinion, will meet tomorrow in the first of a series of White House conferences on inflation. And there are indications that they might approach unanimity on at least some issues. Opening remarks will be made by President Ford, who hopes to collect ideas on ways of dealing with inflation and related problems and to build broad support for policies that his administration is committed to, such as reduced government spending. [New York Times] The anti-inflation maneuvers of the Ford administration are being closely watched abroad with more than unusual interest. Europeans are worried that new policies in Washington may lead the world into a prolonged slump. In Brussels, the capital of the European Common Market, expressions of official concern have already been registered with American representatives. [New York Times] President Ford named Mrs. Mary Louise Smith as his choice for chairman of the Republican National Committee to succeed George Bush, whom the President nominated as the United States envoy to Peking. If Mrs. Smith is given committee approval, which is regarded as nothing more than a formality, she will become the first woman to head the Republican party. [New York Times] President Ford named George Bush, the Republican National Chairman, to be the United States envoy to China as he announced his first major changes in key diplomatic, political and economic posts. Kenneth Rush, economic counselor to former President Nixon, who has continued in his post under Mr. Ford, was nominated to be Ambassador to France. The changes marked the beginning of Mr. Ford's efforts to reshape both the government and the Republican party, according to a White House official close to the President. [New York Times] Mr. Ford's naming of George Bush to fill the top American diplomatic job in Peking comes at a time when Secretary of State Kissinger is reported to be satisfied with the development of United States-China relations. Certain Chinese leaders have expressed displeasure with the pace of change in American policy on the legal status of Taiwan, but it is maintained that Mr. Kissinger has received no indication of this in private communications. [New York Times] Participants in the 24th Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs in Vienna have approved a resolution calling for a world disarmament conference. Long-time observers said it was the first unanimous appeal in the history of the conference, a meeting conceived in the days of the cold war by Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and Cyrus Eaton to bring scientists from East and West together privately to spur disarmament. [New York Times] Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz told a State Department conference on world food problems that disappointing crops had limited this country's capacity to make promises of increased food aid to hungry peoples. Mr. Butz is to lead the United States delegation to the forthcoming United Nations World Food Conference in Rome scheduled for Nov. 5 through 16. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 648.00 (-15.33, -2.31%)
S&P Composite: 68.72 (-1.80, -2.55%)
Arms Index: 1.60

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	187	1.22
Declines	1,332	13.92
Unchanged	294	1.79
Total Volume		16.93

* 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*
September 3, 1974	663.33	70.52	12.75
August 30, 1974	678.58	72.15	16.23
August 29, 1974	656.84	69.99	13.69
August 28, 1974	666.61	70.76	16.67
August 27, 1974	671.54	70.94	12.97
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