News stories from Friday January 30, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- In a historic ruling on how political campaigns may be waged under the campaign financing reform legislation passed last year, the Supreme Court upheld public financing for presidential campaigns, limits on how much may be contributed to any federal election race, and strict requirements for reporting both contributions and expenditures. The Court struck down as unconstitutional the limits on how much may be spent in a campaign for federal office by a candidate or on his behalf. This had been one of the major provisions of the reform bill. The Court also ruled that the new Federal Election Commission, established to implement the reform legislation, must either be reorganized or, 30 days from now, relinquish all but a few of its powers. [New York Times]
- The Supreme Court's interpretation of the campaign reform legislation will probably not have much practical effect on the 1976 presidential election. Because of the broad attack of the new campaign law's critics, some politicians had feared, or hoped, that the Court would rewrite all ground rules for the national election, but that did not happen. The Court's ruling against campaign spending ceilings did not extend to candidates who accept the new federal political subsidies, and that now includes all the major contenders in both parties. [New York Times]
- At the swearing in of George Bush as Director of Central Intelligence, President Ford promised officials of the Central Intelligence Agency that he would work to restore public confidence in the intelligence community without compromising its effectiveness or secrets. Mr. Bush said that he was determined to protect intelligence agents who risk their lives "only to have some people bent on destroying this agency expose their names. This must stop." [New York Times]
- Winding up the most spectacular month in its history, the New York Stock Exchange traded a record volume of shares. Cheering and paper throwing broke out on the trading floor when it was announced in late afternoon that 38.51 million shares had been traded. Last month's trading was said to have no parallel in the bull or bear market on Wall Street. [New York Times]
- The administration is planning fewer trade concessions for the Soviet Union in retaliation against its military involvement in Angola. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, testifying on trade policies, told the Senate Finance Committee that the administration had dropped plans to reconsider lifting trade restrictions against the Soviet Union and that recent Soviet actions such as that in Angola had caused him to oppose the joint Soviet-American multibillion-dollar deals that had been proposed to exploit natural gas and other resources. [New York Times]
- Eighteen leading Western oil consumer countries agreed in Paris on a long-term program of energy development to lessen dependence on foreign oil. The agreement includes a minimum price of $7 a barrel for oil to protect new investments. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 975.28 (+6.53, +0.67%)
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 29, 1976 | 968.75 | 100.11 | 29.80 |
| January 28, 1976 | 951.35 | 98.53 | 27.37 |
| January 27, 1976 | 957.81 | 99.07 | 32.07 |
| January 26, 1976 | 961.51 | 99.68 | 39.64 |
| January 23, 1976 | 953.95 | 99.21 | 33.64 |
| January 22, 1976 | 943.48 | 98.04 | 27.42 |
| January 21, 1976 | 946.24 | 98.24 | 34.47 |
| 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 |