News stories from Tuesday September 21, 1976

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

A bomb in Washington killed a former Foreign Minister of Chile and one of two persons riding with him in a car near the Chilean Embassy. Orlando Letelier's death was the first act of violence in this country against political exiles opposing the Chilean military junta, but there have been other such acts in recent months in other countries, especially Argentina. [New York Times] Inflation continued its steady pace in August, but lower meat prices partly offset the spurts in gasoline, clothing and medical care. The Labor Department said the August consumer price increase was again five-tenths of 1 percent, as in June and July. [New York Times] President Ford's finances while a congressman were under examination in his home district and in connection with his golfing weekends with a steel company lobbyist. The White House press secretary said Mr. Ford needed no defending because "nobody has said there has been any wrongdoing." [New York Times] Jimmy Carter proposed combining all federal agencies concerned with energy policy in a single cabinet-level department as a first step toward a new national energy program. Some saw the statement as a defense against charges of "fuzziness" on actual plans for government reorganization. [New York Times] Former Representative James Hastings, a Republican from upstate New York who abruptly quit his House seat last December, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of fraudulently concealing kickbacks from his staff. He was said to have used the proceeds to buy boats, automobiles and snowmobiles and to pay the college tuition bills of his children. [New York Times] New York Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak is urging Theodore Weiss. the Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives seat held by Bella Abzug -- who lost in her race for the Senate nomination -- to stand aside and let Mrs. Abzug try to regain the House seat. Miss Krupsak cited concern that the "male-dominated" Democratic Party would be blamed for Mrs. Abzug's absence from Congress, but he said he had no intention of giving up his effort to win the seat. [New York Times] Sluggish retail sales in August and September after an upward trend in June and July have disappointed the nation's retail merchants, who had expected a normally hectic back-to-school season. [New York Times] A new 44-month high was scored by the stock market, with volume on the New York Stock Exchange the highest in nearly six months. New yearly highs were posted by such prominent issues as I.B.M., Exxon, American Telephone and Polaroid. Analysts said the recent steady decline in interest rates had helped set the stage for the sudden performance, which one trader said came "out of the blue." [New York Times] Stock prices advanced steadily and swiftly. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.28 points to close at 1,014.79, breaking through a narrow trading range of the past seven months and more. The bond market, usually sensitive to news of inflation, did not react to the latest Consumer Price Index increases. [New York Times] General Motors will encourage sales of its new line of scaled-down cars by pricing them an average of 4.9 percent more than their 1976 predecessors, as compared with an overall average increase of 5.8 percent for all G.M. automobiles. The move Is intended to counter the attempts of other manufacturers to compete with the new line. [New York Times] Secretary Kissinger told President Nyerere of Tanzania that Prime Minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia had accepted the principle of black majority rule within two years. Mr. Nyerere said after talking with Mr. Kissinger that he was now more hopeful of a peaceful solution in Rhodesia. Mr. Smith said in Rhodesia that the proposals presented at his meeting with Mr. Kissinger required cautious deliberation because they involved Rhodesia's future. [New York Times] The United Nations General Assembly convened with a silent tribute to the late Mao Tse-tung, the admission of the Seychelles to membership, and the withdrawal by North Korea of its resolution demanding that United States troops leave South Korea. With the future of southern Africa dominating the session, delegates were waiting to hear from Mr. Kissinger. [New York Times] Americans are helping Japanese experts take apart the top-secret MiG-25 fighter plane flown to Japan by a Soviet pilot. The Russians have been demanding its immediate return, but the official Japanese reply is that they must keep it long enough to investigate the violation of Japanese airspace and other issues. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1014.79 (+20.28, +2.04%)
S&P Composite: 107.83 (+1.51, +1.42%)
Arms Index: 0.44

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,132	23.50
Declines	375	3.39
Unchanged	427	3.41
Total Volume		30.30

* 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 20, 1976	994.51	106.32	21.73
September 17, 1976	995.10	106.27	28.27
September 16, 1976	987.95	105.34	19.62
September 15, 1976	979.31	104.21	17.57
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