News stories from Friday February 7, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The unemployment rate jumped to 8.2 percent in January, one full percentage point over the 7.2 percent rate in December, confirming fears that the current recession in which 7.5 million persons are out of work was, by far, the most serious of the post-World War II era. Unemployment rose for every major class of workers. The sharp increase in unemployment brought criticism from members of Congress, especially Democrats, and a statement from the White House that President Ford would consider further antirecession measures if the economic situation continued to deteriorate more than administration experts had expected. [New York Times]
- President Ford was described as "concerned" about the sharp increase in unemployment last month. His press secretary, Ron Nessen, said that Mr. Ford held a meeting shortly after the latest unemployment figures were announced, to discuss "a number of steps" the President might take. Mr. Nessen said that any such steps would involve executive action by the President rather than any new legislation, but he would not specify what possible steps had been discussed. [New York Times]
- In an effort to develop energy and fiscal alternatives to the administration's proposals, a committee of senior Democratic Senators is studying a staff outline of a plan that would give first priority to reducing unemployment. The draft plan would defer direct measures to reduce oil imports until unemployment begins to decline. At that time, an additional one-cent-a-gallon federal tax would be levied on gasoline, with more one-cent increments following the decline in unemployment. [New York Times]
- Major European banking houses connected with prominent Jewish families have reportedly been excluded from a series of routine international finance transactions in recent months because of pressure from Arab governments. High-level banking sources in London report the existence of what they call a "blacklist" of banks that the Arab governments want kept out of any transactions that have Arab participants. Among the institutions on the list are N. M. Rothschild & Sons, S. G. Warburg & Sons, and Lazard Freres. Bankers said that the source of the list was Kuwait and Arab banks dominated by Kuwaiti interests. [New York Times]
- Gen. Ariel Sharon, the flamboyant and controversial commander who led the Israeli crossing of the Suez Canal in the 1973 war, has since become the leading spokesman for the Israeli right wing. His views and those of many Israelis who agree with him are increasingly important at this time, when Israel is about to begin a new and crucial round of negotiations with Egypt. General Sharon made clear in an interview that he is staunchly opposed to Secretary of State Kissinger's effort to negotiate another partial agreement between Israel and Egypt. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 711.91 (-2.26, -0.32%)
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* |
| February 6, 1975 | 714.17 | 78.56 | 32.02 |
| February 5, 1975 | 717.85 | 78.95 | 25.83 |
| February 4, 1975 | 708.07 | 77.51 | 25.04 |
| February 3, 1975 | 711.44 | 77.82 | 25.40 |
| January 31, 1975 | 703.69 | 76.98 | 24.64 |
| January 30, 1975 | 696.42 | 76.21 | 29.74 |
| January 29, 1975 | 705.96 | 77.26 | 27.41 |
| January 28, 1975 | 694.77 | 76.03 | 31.75 |
| January 27, 1975 | 692.66 | 75.37 | 32.13 |
| January 24, 1975 | 666.61 | 72.98 | 20.67 |