News stories from Tuesday February 18, 1975

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

Senate Democratic leaders agreed unanimously on a program to stimulate the economy this year, with energy conservation given a much lower priority. Senator John Pastore of Rhode Island, chairman of a special committee that devised the program, said he hoped that Democratic caucuses in both houses would adopt it in a week or so. The program was said to give relatively low priority to reducing reliance on imported oil. The Senate sent to the White House another measure raising the ceiling on the national debt by $36 billion. [New York Times] George Meany, head of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, announced that it would stay out of political party affairs and would not take part in the selection of delegates to the 1976 Democratic National Convention. He said in Bal Harbour, Fla., where the Federation's Executive Council is meeting, that the declaration, apparently a major policy shift, had won unanimous support. [New York Times] The Governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, all Democrats, in Washington for the midwinter session of the National Governors Conference, variously accused President Ford of proposing an economic program based on "planned unemployment," failure to address the "economic undertow" and failure to appreciate the full impact of "this depression." Governors Hugh Carey of New York, Brendan Byrne of New Jersey and Ella Grasso of Connecticut said they planned their economic hopes on the Democratic Congress. [New York Times] The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Nixon had no right to impound $69 billion in funds to fight water pollution. It held that the legislation had not given him that authority. The decision did not resolve the more complicated question still in the lower courts -- whether a President has the implied power under the Constitution to refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated. [New York Times] Dr. Kenneth Edelin, convicted by a Boston jury of manslaughter of a male fetus in connection with a legal abortion, was sentenced to one year's probation by Superior Court Judge James McGuire. A spokesman for Boston City Hospital said he would continue to practice there. [New York Times] Senator Frank Church, chairman of the Special Committee on the Aging, announced that he had offered Bernard Bergman, a major figure in investigations of nursing-home abuses, what he called an unusual package of rights for a witness at a congressional hearing. The Idaho Democrat met in whole or in part each suggestion of Mr. Bergman's lawyer, who said the subpoenaed witness would claim his constitutional right not to appear unless they were granted. Mr. Church said Mr. Bergman could study documents he might be questioned on, suggest witnesses to be called and questions to hostile witnesses, and submit addenda to the record of his testimony. [New York Times] The Soviet Union has resumed shipment of advanced weapons systems to Egypt by delivering six MiG-23 fighter planes, according to American intelligence sources. Allied sources say they are the first of 48 aircraft. Soviet T-62 tanks and surface-to-air missiles are said to have been promised as well. Syria has already received 45 MiG-23's and Iraq 40. New pressure is expected for Israel to balance these by buying American F-15 fighters. [New York Times] The Shah of Iran indicated to reporters in Zurich that Israel could buy additional Iranian oil if the Egyptian oilfields were returned to Egypt in the next round of Sinai negotiations. Secretary of State Kissinger had a working lunch with the Shah and reporters later were advised that the Shah's answer to the question about oil for Israel was significant. [New York Times] Highly placed informants in Kuwait said the government of the oil-producing Arabian emirate, concerned about a possible confrontation with Iraq, planned to obtain American instructors in the use and maintenance of missiles, planes, and transport vehicles bought from the United States in December. The move expands the U. S. military role in the Persian Gulf area. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 731.30 (-2.90, -0.39%)
S&P Composite: 80.93 (-0.57, -0.70%)
Arms Index: 1.04

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	666	9.55
Declines	780	11.64
Unchanged	396	2.80
Total Volume		23.99

* 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*
February 14, 1975	734.20	81.50	23.29
February 13, 1975	726.92	81.01	35.16
February 12, 1975	715.03	79.92	19.79
February 11, 1975	707.50	78.58	16.47
February 10, 1975	708.39	78.36	16.12
February 7, 1975	711.91	78.63	20.06
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