News stories from Tuesday August 26, 1975

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

President Ford met with George Meany, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and five other union leaders without resolving the deadlock over the longshoremen's boycott against grain shipments to the Soviet Union. As Mr. Meany left the White House he said the unions had received additional information but that the situation had not changed. Discussions, he said, would continue. [New York Times] The Postal Rate Commission has overruled the recommendation of an administrative law judge that first-class rates be lowered. Instead, it opened the way to raise letter rates to 13 cents from 10 cents, according to informed administration sources. [New York Times] New York City appeared to have a decisive edge over Los Angeles for the 1976 Democratic National Convention on the eve of the decision by Robert Strauss, the party chairman, and a 20-member site selection committee. [New York Times] The Commerce Department reported that the nation's foreign trade account remained in surplus by nearly $1 billion dollars in July despite erosion by increased oil imports. This unexpected surplus -- the fourth largest ever recorded -- contrasted with severe declines experienced by most major trading nations. Economists said the country's strong performance in foreign trade had cushioned the impact of the domestic slowdown. Commerce Department forecasters expect the surplus to remain about the same for the year as a whole. [New York Times] The obstetrics and gynecology advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration has recommended that women over 40 be urged to discontinue using birth control pills because for that age group the risk of death from heart attack is four times as great as for nonusers. An F.D.A. bulletin mailed to physicians recommended the shift to alternate birth control methods on the basis of two British studies. [New York Times] The United States seems destined to emerge from negotiations for an Egyptian-Israeli accord as the major outside power in the Middle East and deeply involved in the affairs of the area, in the view of Arab, Israeli and American officials. Some of Secretary of State Kissinger's aides are wondering if the United States may not be getting too involved. Most officials feel the process has been started and will be difficult to stop. [New York Times] Secretary of State Kissinger is expected to take a more conciliatory stand toward demands from the developing nations for a greater share of the world's wealth when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly at a special session next week. The draft of his speech is said to include concrete proposals for a world food reserve system, more credits and lowered tariffs to promote industrialization, aid to increase farm output, financing of trade deficits and new international facilities to guide such activities. [New York Times] Talks at Victoria Falls between Rhodesia's white-minority government and black nationalist leaders broke down with each side blaming the other. The latest attempt to negotiate a step toward majority rule failed despite major efforts by Prime Minister John Vorster of South Africa and President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia to keep the two sides talking. Prime Minister Ian Smith then told Rhodesia's Parliament he would call a new conference to which he would invite tribal chiefs and other African groups, with the door still open for the African National Council. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 803.11 (-9.23, -1.14%)
S&P Composite: 83.96 (-1.10, -1.29%)
Arms Index: 2.20

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	412	1.63
Declines	930	8.10
Unchanged	428	1.62
Total Volume		11.35

* 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*
August 25, 1975	812.34	85.06	11.25
August 22, 1975	804.76	84.28	13.05
August 21, 1975	791.69	83.07	16.61
August 20, 1975	793.26	83.22	18.63
August 19, 1975	808.51	84.95	14.99
August 18, 1975	822.75	86.20	10.81
August 15, 1975	825.64	86.36	10.61
August 14, 1975	817.04	85.60	12.46
August 13, 1975	820.56	85.97	12.00
August 12, 1975	828.54	87.12	14.51