News stories from Wednesday January 21, 1976

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

President Ford listed proposed reductions totaling $20 billion in federal programs and promised Congress additional tax reductions if it accepted his plan. He predicted it would lead to a balanced budget within three years and would improve prospects for the economy to stay on a sustainable growth path. Defense spending would rise about $10 billion to exceed $100 billion for the first time. About 60 federal programs in health, education, child nutrition and social services would be consolidated into block grants to the states. [New York Times] There was bipartisan consensus among congressional budget makers that Congress would reduce the defense appropriation and reject the block grant plan. Democrats said that the President underestimated the unemployment that would result from his proposals and overestimated the states' ability to pick up the slack left by cuts in social programs. They said that his recommendations would benefit the rich. Republicans hailed it for fiscal restraint. [New York Times] Senator Edmund Muskie charged that President Ford's economic plans were "penny wise and pound foolish" and urged a rejection of those who counsel "go back and give up." Delivering the televised congressional rebuttal to Mr. Ford's State of the Union message, he said the nation must be ready to change to meet new needs. [New York Times] The Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index rose again in December, but at a slower rate, making the 1975 overall increase of 7 percent the smallest in three years. But it remained very high by earlier standards. [New York Times] Sam A. Jaffe, a former television correspondent, has told the Senate intelligence Committee that he reported regularly to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Soviet delegation activities while covering the United Nations in the late 1950's and early 1960's. He confirmed in a telephone conversation that he worked as an unpaid informant at the F.B.I.'s request and was regularly debriefed when on leave from his later post in Moscow. [New York Times] Twelve of the nation's 50 largest bank holding companies, widely scattered across the country, were placed on a confidential "problem" list by the staff of the Federal Reserve Board a year ago. Among those with "more serious" problems were the largest in North Carolina and Wisconsin and major companies in upstate New York, California and Pennsylvania. The list differed from that of the Comptroller of the Currency which included the First National City Bank and the Chase Manhattan Bank. The Federal Reserve list did not mention First National City's holding company; it named the Chase's company but not as one with problems in the "more serious" category. [New York Times] Palestinian guerrillas and their Lebanese Moslem and leftist allies pressed their offensive in several parts of Lebanon as a high-level Syrian mediation mission arrived in Beirut. The central government's already enfeebled authority grew even weaker as both right-wing Christian militiamen and opposing Lebanese Moslems and Palestinian guerrillas seized police stations in the capital and elsewhere. [New York Times] The southern half of Angola, which forms the hulk of the area controlled by factions supported by the West, is in distress and under uncertain authority as it prepares for the onslaught from the forces in the north supported by the Soviet bloc. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the only political force. Basic military decisions, along with most weapons and some troops, are believed to be supplied by the South African government. [New York Times] Yugoslavia, once viewed by the West as one of the most liberal Communist nations, has hardened enforcement of the official Communist line in the last three years and especially in recent months. Hundreds of political dissidents have been jailed, and criticism of Yugoslav leaders has been more effectively muted than ever. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 946.24 (-3.62, -0.38%)
S&P Composite: 98.24 (-0.62, -0.63%)
Arms Index: 0.97

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	677	13.57
Declines	853	16.63
Unchanged	376	4.27
Total Volume		34.47

* 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*
January 20, 1976	949.86	98.86	36.69
January 19, 1976	943.72	98.32	29.45
January 16, 1976	929.63	97.00	25.94
January 15, 1976	924.51	96.61	38.45
January 14, 1976	929.63	97.13	30.34
January 13, 1976	912.94	95.57	34.53
January 12, 1976	922.39	96.33	30.44
January 9, 1976	911.13	94.95	26.51
January 8, 1976	907.98	94.58	29.03
January 7, 1976	898.69	93.95	33.17