News stories from Wednesday September 15, 1976

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

President Ford's formal campaign began with a speech at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. He proposed legislation to spur home ownership by persons of limited means, and without naming his Democratic challenger for the presidency, Jimmy Carter, he thrust at him by suggesting that the people's trust must be earned by leveling with them. [New York Times] The decisive farm vote was courted by Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz during a visit to a Midwestern fairground with the message that the farmers have never had it so good. Although farmers have traditionally voted Republican, a poll by the New York Times shows President Ford trailing Jimmy Carter. [New York Times] Dissatisfaction with foreign policy is the picture brought back to Washington by aides to Mr. Kissinger following "town meetings" with representative groups of citizens in Pittsburgh, Portland, Ore., San Francisco, Minneapolis and Milwaukee. They found distrust of the government's effectiveness in carrying out humanitarian policies. The New York Times obtained their reports from an official who felt disclosure would help the candidacy of Jimmy Carter. [New York Times] The House-Senate deadlock on the abortion issue may have been broken by a formula from the conference committee. The language would bar payment through Medicaid for abortions except where the mother's life was endangered, but the prohibition was softened in the conferees' binding official report. [New York Times] Daniel Schorr refused the House Ethics Committee's demand to know how he got the Pike Committee report on intelligence activities, citing his rights under the First Amendment. However, the panel will not cite the CBS News correspondent for contempt. [New York Times] The winner, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, accepted as gracious the promise of help from Bella Abzug whom he narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate nomination from New York. The Liberal Party prepared to shift from its token candidate to support Mr. Moynihan against the incumbent Conservative-Republican, James Buckley, who handily defeated Representative Peter Peyser, the moderate Republican challenger.A debate appeared in prospect between the two Senate candidates from New York. Senator Buckley, who tagged Mr. Moynihan as to the left of most New Yorkers, announced his readiness, while his challenger, proclaiming himself a "liberal centrist," said that he wanted to debate. [New York Times] Stock prices moved in a narrow range with advances slightly outnumbering declines. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.67 points, closing at 979.31. Bond trading in government and federal agency securities reflected the trend toward lower interest rates in other sectors of the credit market. [New York Times] American Telephone and Telegraph earned just over $1 billion in the quarter ending Aug. 31, making it the first publicly owned corporation to earn that amount in a three-month period. Its chairman attributed the gain to a general improvement in the economy, higher telephone usage and higher rates and productivity. [New York Times] Tanzania's President was pessimistic after several hours of talks in Dar es Salaam with Secretary of State Kissinger. Julius Nyerere said he had heard nothing to encourage the possibility of negotiated solutions for either South-West Africa or Rhodesia. Mr. Kissinger suggested later that the statement might turn out to be only positioning in preparation for later talks with South Africa's Prime Minister. [New York Times] Sterilizations have tripled in the last year in India, where the government claims to be making some real progress toward slowing the growth of the population. Lowering the birth rate has top national priority, and a Health Ministry aide called the recent steps "a real breakthrough." [New York Times] The International Monetary Fund auctioned an additional 780,000 ounces of its gold at an average price of $109.40 an ounce. This was about $2 below the day's closing price of gold in London. There was no lack of bids, with prices ranging from $108.76 to $114. The I.M.F.'s profit of about $54 million will go to a special trust fund set up to assist about 60 of the world's poorest countries. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 979.31 (+0.67, +0.07%)
S&P Composite: 104.21 (+0.27, +0.26%)
Arms Index: 0.75

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	703	8.40
Declines	641	5.74
Unchanged	529	3.43
Total Volume		17.57

* 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*
September 14, 1976	978.64	103.94	15.55
September 13, 1976	983.29	104.29	16.10
September 10, 1976	988.36	104.65	16.93
September 9, 1976	986.87	104.40	16.54
September 8, 1976	992.94	104.94	19.75
September 7, 1976	996.59	105.03	16.31
September 3, 1976	989.11	104.30	13.28
September 2, 1976	984.79	103.92	18.92
September 1, 1976	985.95	104.06	18.64
August 31, 1976	973.74	102.91	15.48