News stories from Friday September 13, 1974

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

Most of the major petroleum-exporting countries agreed to raise their taxes almost 5 percent on oil produced and sold by foreign countries. Saudi Arabia, however, the world's largest exporter, refused to apply the tax increase adopted by all the other members of the 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies at their meeting in Vienna, until she completes negotiations with her foreign partners in the Arabian American Oil Company, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum said. Saudi Arabia is trying to increase its ownership share in the company from 60 percent to 100 percent. A key issue in the negotiations is the price that her American partners will have to pay for Saudi oil in the future if the government acquires full ownership of the company. [New York Times] Business and trade association leaders attending a conference on food price inflation in Chicago gave strong support to the Ford administration's advocacy of budget austerity and monetary restraint, Dissent from this and many other majority views, however, came from a vocal minority that included consumer representatives, a few farm and labor leaders and some economists. [New York Times] The Federal Reserve Board announced that industrial production -- the key indicator of economic activity that measures the output of factories and mines -- had declined 0.4 percent in August. This was the index's first significant decline since the energy shortage of last winter and spring. The August decline put the index almost 2 percent below the peak it reached in October, 1973, before the Arab oil embargo. [New York Times] Spokesmen for President Ford declined for the sixth consecutive day to say specifically how reports of former President Nixon's poor health figured in the President's decision to pardon Mr. Nixon only a few days after he indicated he would await legal moves before making a decision. A member of Congress, who visited President Ford this week quoted him as saying that he pardoned Mr. Nixon because Mr. Nixon "would go off the deep end."President Nixon's physician, Air Force Gen. Walter Tkach, said that Mr. Nixon had developed a new blood clot and an attack of painful phlebitis in his left leg. [New York Times] Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway are seeking replacements for their aging fighter planes end the United States and France are competing to provide them in a potentially huge global contract. Defense Secretary James Schlesinger spent the day trying to prevail on the Defense Ministers of the four countries to buy American planes. The Pentagon greeted the ministers with full military honors when they arrived in Washington for talks. [New York Times] Three armed members of a Japanese guerrilla group took over the French Embassy in the Hague and threatened to kill the Ambassador and other hostages unless a comrade, a member of the Japanese Red Army, a terrorist organization, was released from prison in France. Reports from Paris said that the prisoner was taken from his cell late tonight and rushed to a nearby military airport and taken by plane to the Hague. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 627.19 (-14.55, -2.27%)
S&P Composite: 65.20 (-1.51, -2.26%)
Arms Index: 0.97

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	283	2.77
Declines	1,185	11.20
Unchanged	330	2.10
Total Volume		16.07

* 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 12, 1974	641.74	66.71	16.92
September 11, 1974	654.72	68.55	11.82
September 10, 1974	658.17	69.24	11.98
September 9, 1974	662.94	69.72	11.16
September 6, 1974	677.88	71.42	15.13
September 5, 1974	670.76	70.87	14.21
September 4, 1974	648.00	68.72	16.93
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