News stories from Tuesday December 2, 1975

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

Chairman Mao Tse-tung met with President Ford for an hour and 50 minutes. Their Peking meeting was 50 minutes longer than President Nixon's visit in 1972. Mr. Ford called it "a significant conversation" about international issues, particularly Chinese-American relations. [New York Times] The House of Representatives passed the legislation proposed by President Ford to authorize $2.3 billion in short-term, seasonal loans to enable New York City to prevent default. The vote was 213 to 203, but supporters said they had more votes in reserve for the measure. Mayor Beame, observing in Washington, thanked New York's "friends and supporters throughout the country" after the vote. He said that if the Senate followed suit, the city's cash crisis would be eliminated through the first half of 1978. Senate passage is expected next week before the Dec. 11 deadline. [New York Times] Muhammad Ali arrived at the Hillside Aged Program center in Washington Heights and told the director that he would like to provide enough money to keep it going for another year. A story in the Sunday New York Times had told of the center's plight and it was picked up on WCBS-TV Monday night and seen by the heavyweight boxing champion. The privately supported program serves 54 aged persons in the neighborhood whose handicaps keep them from attending other social centers, and it had been scheduled to close this month. [New York Times] Cancer experts are finding more evidence that ingredients in the daily diet may be the direct or indirect cause of half the cancers among women and 30 percent of those among men. A newly published report suggests that nutritional factors including high intake of fats and alcohol, deficiencies in vitamins A and C, and certain additives and contaminants, both natural and man-made, are related to the development of cancer of the colon, stomach, esophagus, breast, liver and uterus. This has spurred a new research program by the National Cancer Institute on links between diet and cancer, a long-neglected aspect of the study of its cause. [New York Times] Israeli jets attacked Palestinian camps in northern and southern Lebanon, inflicting the heaviest reported death toll in such raids in 18 months. The Palestinian press service said 57 people had been killed. Israeli military spokesmen said the raids had followed information of terrorist concentrations, and an official said the guerrillas' main bases, training camps and nerve centers were located in Lebanon. [New York Times] The poor Soviet grain harvest this year has significantly reduced the country's economic goals for 1976, with the consumer likely to bear the brunt of the economic scaledown. The economic plan presented to the Supreme Soviet called for one of the lowest industrial growth rates on record, indicating the impact of a crop failure that may have approached disastrous proportions. The report of Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Baibakov said the industrial growth rate of 4.3 percent for next year was due to a shortage of agricultural raw materials from the harvest. [New York Times] The heads of the European Common Market governments reached a series of agreements to bring them closer to a working unity and to clear the way for next month's world conference on energy and raw materials, They decided on uniform passports and direct elections to the European Parliament. Surprisingly, they decided to move ahead on a common energy program, including a minimum price on oil and a system for sharing it in emergencies. [New York Times] Five armed extremists advocating independence for the South Molucca islands in Indonesia seized a train in the north of the Netherlands. They killed at least two men and took about 50 hostages. Police surrounded the train and mediation efforts were in progress at the scene. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 843.20 (-13.14, -1.53%)
S&P Composite: 89.33 (-1.24, -1.37%)
Arms Index: 2.49

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	260	1.27
Declines	1,207	14.70
Unchanged	390	1.96
Total Volume		17.93

* 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*
December 1, 1975	856.34	90.57	16.05
November 28, 1975	860.67	91.24	12.87
November 26, 1975	858.55	90.94	18.78
November 25, 1975	855.40	90.71	17.49
November 24, 1975	845.64	89.70	13.93
November 21, 1975	840.76	89.53	14.11
November 20, 1975	843.51	89.64	16.46
November 19, 1975	848.24	89.98	16.82
November 18, 1975	855.24	91.00	20.76
November 17, 1975	856.66	91.46	17.66