News stories from Monday December 22, 1975

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

Ending a year-long stalemate with Congress over energy policy, President Ford signed into law a bill that will roll back gasoline and fuel oil prices, at least temporarily, and he announced that he was removing, effective immediately, the $2-a-barrel import fee on crude oil that he had imposed to discourage the use of imported oil. He thus repudiated his energy policy, announced last year, that would have sharply increased domestic fuel prices to encourage production. The new law will bring about by February a reduction in the average price of crude oil produced in the United States from the current $8.75 a barrel to $7.66 a barrel. However, the federal energy administrator, Frank Zarb, said that consumers would see little, if any, difference in the price they pay for gasoline or heating fuel. [New York Times] President Ford announced that he would veto the construction industry picketing bill that would have extended the right of construction unions to picket a building site. The administration had supported and helped draft the legislation. There was speculation that Secretary of Labor John Dunlop, who had backed the bill and worked hard to get labor support for it, would resign as a result of the veto. It was believed by people who had spoken to Mr. Ford that Ronald Reagan's opposition to the bill left him no choice but to veto it. Mr. Ford, they said, did not want to alienate any more Republicans. [New York Times] The American Medical Association was accused by the Federal Trade Commission of illegally interfering with the fees that. physicians charge and with preventing patients from obtaining information about physicians by preventing its members from advertising. Alfred Dougherty, deputy director of the F.T.C.'s bureau of competition, said one purpose of the complaint was to bring "to the attention of all professions -- not just doctors -- that there can be no dallying" in the compliance with the anti-trust laws. [New York Times] Fire and casualty insurers plan to seek another round of sharp rate increases -- averaging 10 percent nationwide on premiums for automobile and home insurance -- to offset heavy losses in insurance claims this year. Starting next month, higher rates will go into effect in some states and requests for increases will be filed in others. [New York Times] A band of pro-Palestinian terrorists ended a 20-hour siege at the Vienna headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and, taking scores of hostages and a jetliner provided by Austria, began an odyssey of Middle Eastern capitals to drop off their captives. Most of the hostages were freed unharmed at the first stop in Algiers. The plane went on to Tripoli, Libya, and tonight it flew back to Algiers. [New York Times] Because the company had received demands for payment of royalties from all three of the factions fighting in Angola's civil war, the Gulf Oil Corporation announced that it had temporarily suspended operations there. Most of Gulf's foreign personnel have been withdrawn, and the company is prepared to put future payments into escrow, in a special interest-bearing account. [New York Times] Right-wing Argentine air force officers quietly ended their revolt against President Isabel Martinez de Peron, who, in a televised address, hailed the armed forces for putting down the bloodless uprising. She said she would not resign. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 838.63 (-5.75, -0.68%)
S&P Composite: 88.14 (-0.66, -0.74%)
Arms Index: 1.32

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	478	3.53
Declines	925	9.04
Unchanged	495	2.77
Total Volume		15.34

* 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 19, 1975	844.38	88.80	17.72
December 18, 1975	852.09	89.43	18.04
December 17, 1975	846.27	89.15	16.56
December 16, 1975	844.30	88.93	18.35
December 15, 1975	836.59	88.09	13.96
December 12, 1975	832.81	87.83	13.10
December 11, 1975	832.73	87.80	15.30
December 10, 1975	833.99	88.08	15.68
December 9, 1975	824.15	87.30	16.04
December 8, 1975	821.63	87.07	14.15