News stories from Wednesday October 6, 1976

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

President Ford and Jimmy Carter clashed sharply over Mr. Ford's stewardship of American foreign policy in their second television debate of the presidential election. The Democratic challenger asserted that the United States was neither strong nor respected, and Mr. Ford replied that it was strong, respected and "at peace."The President, at one point, said there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration." He was seeking to rebut charges that his administration had given up too much for detente. [New York Times] After the debate, aides of both presidential candidates congratulated them. Peter Bourne, who first suggested to Jimmy Carter that he run, remarked, "He was so good, so good." [New York Times] New York Senator James Buckley used a section of the Federal Communications Act to force WNET-TV and seven other public education TV stations in New York State to run political commercials for the first time. Officials of Channel 13 reluctantly agreed to broadcast a five-minute Buckley commercial Sunday evening for $1,000 under a threat to the station's license. [New York Times] A national debate is increasing over liquefied natural gas, paralleling the debate over nuclear safety. Around the country, officials and specialists are seeking workable guidelines to protect the public from conceivable disasters in docking LNG tankers from abroad and storing the gas. Large-scale imports of the highly condensed gas are believed inevitable in the view of many utility executives to avert what they foresee as disruptive shortages in energy supplies. [New York Times] The stock market continued its downtrend in more active trading amid worries over the slowness in the economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 7.07 points to 959.69. In the last eight sessions the index has lost 49.62 points. Credit prices rose steeply in active trading amid a growing expectation that the Federal Reserve would allow short-term interest rates to fall. [New York Times] Ford Motor Company employees prepared to vote on a tentative three-year contract that was generally characterized as a "toe in the door" to a four-day work week. It was understood that the accord would, in effect, give Ford workers a four-day week five times in 1977-78 and seven times in 1978-79. Ratification that would end the strike may take up to 10 days. [New York Times] A new security and classification system for secret congressional documents was proposed by the House Ethics Committee. The panel made the request to Congress in a final report on its inquiry of the disclosure to Daniel Schorr, a former CBS correspondent, of a report by the House Select Committee on Intelligence Operations. [New York Times] All 78 persons aboard were killed, officials said, when a Cuban passenger jet plunged into the Caribbean Sea off the Barbados capital of Bridgetown. The pilot had been trying to return to Barbados after an explosion occurred on the plane. [New York Times] Thailand's democratic government fell in a coup by the military. The officers seized power hours after university students and policemen fought bloody battles in which 30 persons were reported killed and hundreds wounded. More than 1,700 students were arrested. In a national broadcast, the Defense Minister announced that the 1974 Constitution had been abolished, a curfew would be enforced and all newspapers and periodicals were banned. [New York Times] The Soviet MiG-25 that was flown to Japan a month ago by a defecting pilot was initially hailed In Pentagon circles as an intelligence windfall. After weeks of analysis, Defense Department experts have concluded that the craft lags behind American fighter planes in advanced technology and is no match for them in speed or maneuverability. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 959.69 (-7.06, -0.73%)
S&P Composite: 102.97 (-0.26, -0.25%)
Arms Index: 0.74

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	455	6.77
Declines	947	10.44
Unchanged	465	3.66
Total Volume		20.87

* 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*
October 5, 1976	966.75	103.23	19.20
October 4, 1976	977.98	104.03	12.63
October 1, 1976	979.89	104.17	20.62
September 30, 1976	990.19	105.24	14.70
September 29, 1976	991.19	105.37	18.09
September 28, 1976	994.93	105.92	20.44
September 27, 1976	1013.13	107.26	17.43
September 24, 1976	1009.31	106.80	17.40
September 23, 1976	1010.80	106.92	24.21
September 22, 1976	1014.05	107.46	32.97