News stories from Monday August 5, 1974

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

In a sharp setback to his fight against impeachment, President Nixon admitted that six days after the Watergate burglary he ordered a halt to the investigation of the break-in for political as well as national security reasons and that kept the evidence from his lawyers and supporters on the House Judiciary Committee. He said this in a statement accompanying the release of transcripts of three conversations of June 23, 1972, which he said might further damage his case against impeachment. [New York Times] Six days after the Watergate break-in, President Nixon, informed that his campaign director had urged the illegal bugging operation, ordered that the Federal Bureau of Investigation be told, "Don't go any further into this case!" He gave the order to H.R. Haldeman on June 23, 1972, according to a transcript of the conversation, one of three made public by the President today. Mr. Haldeman began the 90-minute meeting with the President by telling him that the F.B.I. "is not under control." [New York Times] "I just think he loses. I just think everything is downhill," said Senator Robert Dole of Kansas, one of the key Republican Senators who said they believed that President Nixon's release of more Watergate transcripts would weaken his defense in what they expect may be an expedited Senate trial. Senator Robert Griffin of Michigan, who early in the day had called on President Nixon to resign, expressed disappointment that he seemed determined to force a Senate trial. [New York Times] Representative Charles Wiggins, President Nixon's strongest defender during the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry, and many other influential Republicans announced that they would vote for impeachment. Representative Tip O'Neill, the House Democrat leader, predicted that not more than 75 of the 435 Representatives would vote against impeachment. His estimate was unchallenged by those who had supported the President until today. [New York Times] The position of the United Nations peace-keeping force in Cyprus, which numbered 2,300 men when the Turks invaded the island, is both ignominious and ineffectual. Greek and Turkish Cypriote civilians criticize the inability of the United Nations group to prevent forced detentions, arson, looting, the displacement of persons, and other violations of human rights. The major disillusionment has been the refusal of the Turkish military to allow the United Nations to extend protection to Greek Cypriote refugees trapped in the sector occupied by Turkish troops. Gen. Prem Chand, who commands the United Nations force, said: "We can do nothing more than the parties are willing to have us do -- we are not an occupation army that can impose itself." [New York Times] The United States Embassy in Saigon was criticized by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for adhering too closely to the official Saigon government line in its reports to Washington. "Over the years," a committee staff study on Vietnam said, "the American Embassy in Saigon has acquired a reputation, among both official and unofficial observers, for close identification with the policies of the South Vietnamese government and for selective reporting," and added that "these same tendencies are apparent today." [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 760.40 (+7.82, +1.04%)
S&P Composite: 79.29 (+0.70, +0.89%)
Arms Index: 0.69

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	823	6.68
Declines	524	2.94
Unchanged	404	1.61
Total Volume		11.23

* 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 2, 1974	752.58	78.59	10.11
August 1, 1974	751.10	78.75	11.47
July 31, 1974	757.43	79.31	10.96
July 30, 1974	765.57	80.50	11.36
July 29, 1974	770.89	80.94	11.55
July 26, 1974	784.57	82.40	10.42
July 25, 1974	795.68	83.98	13.31
July 24, 1974	805.77	84.99	12.87
July 23, 1974	797.72	84.65	12.91
July 22, 1974	790.36	83.81	9.29