News stories from Tuesday April 27, 1976

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

An American Airlines 727 Jet crashed on landing at St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. The Associated Press said 47 of the 88 persons on board had been killed. Initial accounts said the plane had landed long, run off the end of the runway and plunged into a gas station. The flight was from Providence, R.I., with additional passengers taken on at Kennedy International Airport in New York. [New York Times] Jimmy Carter appeared from an early lead to be headed for victory in the pivotal Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary. Senator Henry Jackson seemed to have finished second with Representative Morris Udall a poor third and Gov. George Wallace, who hardly campaigned in the state, apparently trailing. The strong showing of the former Georgia Governor was achieved despite efforts by organized labor on Senator Jackson's behalf. A New York Times-CBS News poll of voters who had just cast ballots showed Mr. Carter with even stronger support among union members than Senator Jackson. [New York Times] Vice President Rockefeller formally apologized in the Senate for his "unsubstantiated speculation" that two members of the staff of Senator Jackson had Communist ties. Both the Senator and leaders of both parties in the Senate immediately accepted the apology, heading off a possible investigation of the allegations. He also apologized to the unnamed staff members, who were reported to be Dr. Dorothy Fosdick and Richard Perle. [New York Times] James Needham, the first full-time chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, resigned under pressure almost two years before his contract was to expire. William Batten, a director of the exchange since 1972 and a former chairman of the J.C. Penney Company, will succeed him May 19. The head of a leading brokerage house remarked that Mr. Needham had not done anything wrong, but it was felt that he "just didn't measure up to the job." [New York Times] The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 3 that it is constitutional to convict a person for selling contraband such as drugs even when undercover agents or government informers were the initial suppliers and other undercover agents were the purchasers. [New York Times] The Senate Rules Committee approved by 5 to 4 a move to require the proposed intelligence oversight committee to share its jurisdiction with the four committees that now have that role. This watering-down of the key proposal of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities is expected to lead to a major floor battle. [New York Times] Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, speaking in Zambia in what was billed as the major policy speech of his African visit, advanced a program of American actions aimed at forcing the white minority government of Rhodesia to accept majority rule. He said he would urge Congress to repeal the legislation permitting importation of Rhodesian chrome in contravention of United Nations sanctions. Many African leaders were most impressed by his aim of urging other industrial nations to comply strictly with the sanctions. [New York Times] Prime Minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia announced a "new initiative" that would include blacks in his white minority government for the first time. He said four tribal chiefs would be sworn in today and that six other blacks would become deputy ministers. They were not named. Black nationalist leaders called the move "irrelevant," since the four chiefs already receive government salaries and it appeared doubtful that any of the others would represent the nationalists who demand immediate majority rule. [New York Times] Pope Paul VI appointed 19 new Roman Catholic cardinals, including one American, Archbishop William Wakefield Baum of Washington, a native of Texas who has stressed the church's duty to combat racism and all other forces threatening human life and liberty. The names of two other new cardinals were not made public -- a practice sometimes used for appointments made in Communist countries. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 995.51 (-7.25, -0.72%)
S&P Composite: 101.86 (-0.57, -0.56%)
Arms Index: 1.36

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	563	4.97
Declines	859	10.33
Unchanged	467	2.46
Total Volume		17.76

* 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 26, 1976	1002.76	102.43	15.52
April 23, 1976	1000.71	102.29	17.00
April 22, 1976	1007.71	102.98	20.22
April 21, 1976	1011.02	103.32	26.60
April 20, 1976	1003.46	102.87	23.50
April 19, 1976	988.11	101.44	16.50
April 15, 1976	980.48	100.67	15.10
April 14, 1976	974.65	100.31	18.44
April 13, 1976	984.26	101.05	15.99
April 12, 1976	971.27	100.20	16.03