News stories from Friday July 30, 1976

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

Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania. regarded as one of Congress's more liberal Republicans, said that he would support anti-labor positions if the Republican Party platform required him to do so as Ronald Reagan's running mate. He explained at a news conference in the Senate Caucus Room that his votes in Congress, such as for the right of construction workers to close down building sites, had been influenced by his constituency in a labor-oriented Northern state. But when he was asked if he expected to exert a liberal influence on Mr. Reagan if they should be elected he replied: "No question about it." [New York Times] President Ford went to Jackson, Miss., to attend a caucus of the potentially pivotal Mississippi delegation to the Republican National Convention and won two important endorsements, both from the only Mississippi Republicans in Congress. Mr. Ford told the delegates how he would choose a vice president. The delegation, which will cast its 30 votes as a unit, gave Mr. Ford a standing ovation. [New York Times] Housewives who have no job outside the home will benefit more from their husbands' pension under an amendment to the omnibus tax bill approved by the Senate. Under present law, an employee who has no other pension plan may set aside up to $1,500 a year in an individual retirement account. No tax is due on the account until retirement when most people are in a lower tax bracket than in their working years. The Senate vote would allow the owner of the retirement account to add $500 more a year for the benefit of a spouse who does not work. Senator William Roth, Republican of Delaware, sponsored the change in recognition of the role housewives have. [New York Times] The soil scooped up by Viking 1 suggests that Mars is a rather primitive planet, according to scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. An analysis of the soil bears out their surmise that Mars has been more geologically active than the Moon, but far less active than Earth. The soil contains iron oxide, the reddish rust that coats much of the surface of Mars and gives it its distinctive color. [New York Times] The Chinese government has not made public any estimate of the casualties in the two earthquakes that apparently shattered the city of Tangshan, but diplomats in Peking said that at least 100,000 people had been killed. That figure resulted from a study of records of past earthquakes, population statistics and the number of foreigners known to have been killed in this week's quake. Meanwhile there was an official warning that another quake was possible. [New York Times] An anti-Egyptian clause, unexpectedly written into the cease-fire proposal for Lebanon signed by Syrian and Palestinian representatives Thursday, worsened the conflict between Syria, Egypt and Libya and jeopardized the cease-fire. The clause condemned the Sinai disengagement agreement reached by Egypt and Israel last September, calling the pact a "Zionist plot" that destroyed Arab unity and brought on the Lebanese conflict 16 months ago. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 984.64 (+5.35, +0.55%)
S&P Composite: 103.44 (+0.51, +0.50%)
Arms Index: 0.71

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	720	7.90
Declines	531	4.14
Unchanged	518	2.79
Total Volume		14.83

* 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*
July 29, 1976	979.29	102.93	13.33
July 28, 1976	981.33	103.05	16.00
July 27, 1976	984.13	103.48	15.58
July 26, 1976	991.51	104.07	13.53
July 23, 1976	990.91	104.06	15.87
July 22, 1976	991.08	103.93	15.60
July 21, 1976	989.44	103.82	18.35
July 20, 1976	988.29	103.72	18.61
July 19, 1976	990.83	104.29	18.20
July 16, 1976	993.21	104.68	20.45