News stories from Tuesday November 12, 1974

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

President Ford's press secretary, Ron Nessen, said the United States now appears to be moving into a recession -- the first time the White House has acknowledged that the year-long decline in the economy had gone that far. Mr. Nessen said it was "figures just coming in" -- not political considerations -- that led to this acknowledgement. Without giving figures, he indicated that industrial production had been slipping in October. [New York Times] An implicit argument for mandatory measures to conserve energy as a way to reduce vulnerability to foreign oil embargoes was contained in a Project Independence report made public by the government. This Federal Energy Administration report lends weight to the case for stronger conservation measures, such as performance standards for automobiles, appliances, and the heating and cooling of buildings. [New York Times] President Ford withdrew the name of Andrew Gibson as prospective Federal Energy Administrator at the latter's request "with the deepest regret." The action followed disclosures of Mr. Gibson's lucrative severance contract with an oil transporting company earlier this year. [New York Times] The United Nations General Assembly voted 91 to 22 to suspend South Africa's participation in the Assembly's current session. The decision, unprecedented in United Nations history, did not exclude South Africa from membership. The vote came after the United States had challenged a ruling by the Assembly's President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria. Nineteen members abstained. South Africa's delegates were not present at the session. [New York Times] The first appearance of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the United Nations was at a news conference in the Secretariat building with Shefiq al-Hout as spokesman. He announced that the movement's head, Yasser Arafat, would address the General Assembly tomorrow. Mr. Hout said: "We are here on a serious mission," and added that the Palestinians "want to be as constructive as possible." But there appeared to be a mood of militancy against Israel. [New York Times] Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Russel Kelner, who called himself chief of operations of the Jewish Defense League and had asserted that "we plan to assassinate" Mr. Arafat. The arrest was made at the J.D.L. office in New York. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 city as well as federal agents were deployed around the East Side in the midtown area and at Kennedy International Airport in intense security precautions to protect the Palestinian delegation. [New York Times] A resolution to end the blockade of Cuba imposed in 1964 by the Organization of American States failed to get the required two-thirds vote at the O.A.S. meeting in Quito, Ecuador. The effect will be that more Latin American countries will disregard the ban and establish ties anyway, although Cuba remains formally an outcast. The United States and five other members abstained from voting. [New York Times] Britain's Labor government submitted a budget to Parliament with the announcement that a tax on gasoline would be tripled to discourage waste of energy resources. Primary goals of the new budget are to stem rising unemployment, to encourage business expansion and to stimulate the economy in a time of deepening disquiet. The plan to phase out subsidies for most nationalized industries indicates higher prices for rail and air travels, electricity, natural gas and coal. [New York Times] A 19-year-old student at Monmouth College in Long Branch, N.J., suffocated when a sandy "grave" he was forced to dig in the rain-swept beach as a fraternity initiation prank collapsed as he was lying in it. William Flowers, the victim, was reported to have been the first black pledged to the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Seven members who were said to have ordered the rite were charged with manslaughter. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 659.18 (-13.46, -2.00%)
S&P Composite: 73.67 (-1.48, -1.97%)
Arms Index: 2.11

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	375	1.99
Declines	1,024	11.47
Unchanged	390	1.59
Total Volume		15.05

* 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*
November 11, 1974	672.64	75.15	13.22
November 8, 1974	667.16	74.91	15.89
November 7, 1974	671.93	75.21	17.15
November 6, 1974	669.12	74.75	23.93
November 5, 1974	674.75	75.11	15.96
November 4, 1974	657.23	73.08	12.74
November 1, 1974	665.21	73.88	13.47
October 31, 1974	665.52	73.90	18.84
October 30, 1974	673.03	74.31	20.13
October 29, 1974	659.34	72.83	15.61