News stories from Friday April 2, 1976

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

The Labor Department said that employment rose in March by 575,000 new jobs, bringing the number of employed persons to 7,027,000. This lowered the March unemployment rate to 7.5 percent from 7.6 percent in February. March was the fifth consecutive month in which the unemployment rate declined. [New York Times] Labor Secretary W.J. Usery announced that two major trucking groups and 140,000 Teamsters -- one-third of those on strike -- had reached agreement on a new contract. At the same time, Frank Fitzsimmons, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said that another one-third of the strikers had completed "interim" agreements with employers since Wednesday. [New York Times] Ronald Reagan defended his use of unverified quotations attributed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and said that President Ford's criticism of their use was unjustified. He also repeated a challenge to debate foreign policy issues with Mr. Ford, who had rejected the proposal. [New York Times] President Ford said that Ronald Reagan's criticism of his defense policy was "built on misleading statements" and embellished by quotations that were "a fabrication, an invention." At a meeting with leaders of 42 ethnic organizations in Milwaukee, Mr. Ford made the most direct political attack on his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, reflecting a change in strategy meant to blunt the impact of Mr. Reagan's televised speeches on national security. [New York Times] The House voted 246 to 33 to reform the scandal-ridden grain inspection system. Another and different reform measure is pending in the Senate Agriculture Committee. The House bill provides for federal control of the inspection and weighing of grain at export terminals and sharply increased penalties for violations of the United States Grain Standards Act. The bill would also eliminate about 20 privately operated grain inspection agencies at grain ports and give the responsibility to the government. Representative Thomas Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, was one of the legislators who thought the bill was not tough enough. He said "It's a Band-Aid on a gaping wound." [New York Times] Elmer Staats, Comptroller General of the United States, told Congress that he was "concerned about whether the current financial plan for New York is a realistic one." He said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on New York City finances that "perhaps it is not too early to consider the need for a more realistic and comprehensive plan, even if it indicates the need for some changes in the projected roles and responsibilities of all parties." [New York Times] Frank Gilroy, the playwright, won a verdict worth more than $1 million and a victory for writers seeking to protect their work, because a television network, a production company and two publishers, without his permission, had based books on a television character he had created. The character was Amos Burke, a homicide detective, who was the hero of a television series called "Burke's Law." Mr. Gilroy said he had sold only television rights to Amos Burke, and retained publishing rights. [New York Times] Despite the start of a 10-day truce in Lebanon, fighting continued in Beirut and the countryside. The radio during the day reported 30 to 40 kidnappings. The Parliament building in Beirut has been damaged and looted and Kamal Assad, the Speaker of Parliament, was trying to find another meeting place for the 99 deputies who have to elect a new president during the truce period. The leading presidential candidates are Raymond Edde, the son of a former president, and Elias Sarkis, governor of the Bank of Lebanon. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 991.58 (-2.52, -0.25%)
S&P Composite: 102.25 (+0.01, +0.01%)
Arms Index: 0.85

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	657	7.30
Declines	753	7.11
Unchanged	452	3.01
Total Volume		17.42

* 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*
April 1, 1976	994.10	102.24	17.91
March 31, 1976	999.45	102.77	17.52
March 30, 1976	992.13	102.01	17.93
March 29, 1976	997.40	102.41	16.10
March 26, 1976	1003.46	102.85	18.51
March 25, 1976	1002.13	102.85	22.51
March 24, 1976	1009.21	103.42	32.61
March 23, 1976	995.43	102.24	22.45
March 22, 1976	982.29	100.71	19.41
March 19, 1976	979.85	100.58	18.09