News stories from Thursday January 16, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Commerce Department reported that the nation's total output in the last three months of 1974 declined at the fastest rate for any three-month period in 16 years, giving evidence that the country was in its most precipitous recession since World War II. For 1974 as a whole, the drop in the national output was the largest for any year since 1946 when the vast productive machinery that supported World War II was halted for conversion to peacetime use. [New York Times]
- President Ford, insisting that immediate action to implement his economic and energy proposals was urgent, began a concerted effort to sell his new policies to the country. He held separate meetings, the first of a series, with congressional leaders, his sub-cabinet officials, other second-level administration officials, and with governors, mayors and other local leaders. There were growing indications, however, that many of the President's proposals would be resisted. [New York Times]
- The automobile industry's stone wall against price cuts appeared to be crumbling with the announcement by the Ford Motor Company that it was following the lead of the Chrysler Corporation in offering large rebates in an attempt to improve declining sales. Ford's decision is expected to put further pressure on the General Motors Corporation to make a similar offer. [New York Times]
- Democratic representatives voted to unseat the long-term chairmen of the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees and threw congressional tradition into turmoil for the second day. After voting narrowly to depose the Armed Services' chairman, Edward Hebert, and W. R. Poage, the chairman of Agriculture, the 291-member Democratic majority in the House rejected recommendations of its leaders to dismiss two other veteran chairmen, Wright Patman of the Banking and Currency Committee, and Wayne Hays of the House Administration Committee. [New York Times]
- Richard Helms, former Director of Central Intelligence, told Congress that the C.I.A. had become involved in domestic spying by presidential request to deal with what he termed "the sudden and quite dramatic up-surge of extreme radicalism in this country and abroad" beginning in the late 1950s. [New York Times]
- The American Civil Liberties Union won a $12 million damage suit against the District of Columbia for the false arrest and infringement of the rights of 1,200 anti-Vietnam war demonstrators on the steps of the Capitol in 1971. [New York Times]
- Finance ministers representing both rich and poor countries announced in Washington a series of agreements aimed at helping the international economy cope with the vast flow of funds to oil-producing countries and at dealing with several other monetary problems. John Turner, Canada's Finance Minister, said of the agreements, "I think it can be said we have made significant progress in assuring world economic stability." [New York Times]
- The Soviet Union asserted that it was not to blame for the collapse of the 1972 trade agreement, and still sought trade with the United States, but only on a "mutually beneficial" basis. The statement was made through the official press agency, Tass, to rebut speculation in the Western press that Moscow's unwillingness to carry out the agreement meant a departure from its policy of accommodation with Washington. [New York Times]
- The Provisional IRA announced in Dublin that it would not extend its 25-day cease-fire in Northern Ireland when it expired at midnight, "owing to a total lack of response to our peace proposals by the British government." The decision was unexpected and it angered or disappointed both Protestants and Roman Catholics. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 655.74 (+2.35, +0.36%)
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 15, 1975 | 653.39 | 72.14 | 16.58 |
| January 14, 1975 | 648.70 | 71.68 | 16.61 |
| January 13, 1975 | 654.18 | 72.31 | 19.78 |
| January 10, 1975 | 658.79 | 72.61 | 25.89 |
| January 9, 1975 | 645.26 | 71.17 | 16.34 |
| January 8, 1975 | 635.40 | 70.04 | 15.60 |
| January 7, 1975 | 641.19 | 71.02 | 14.33 |
| January 6, 1975 | 637.20 | 71.07 | 17.55 |
| January 3, 1975 | 634.54 | 70.71 | 15.27 |
| January 2, 1975 | 632.04 | 70.23 | 14.80 |