News stories from Friday September 24, 1976

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

The debate between the presidential candidates was seen privately by most members of the political community as being a draw or close to one. Publicly, however, Republicans and Democrats rallied around their party's candidate as the obvious winner. Observers felt that the caution exhibited by both President Ford and Jimmy Carter had kept the debate from injecting excitement and voter involvement into the campaign.The 27-minute silence during the debate was caused by the failure of an obscure, 25-cent piece of equipment. While the television audience of about 65 million viewers waited and dwindled as the candidates stood at their lecterns, ABC engineers searched frantically for the cause of the trouble which took them 12 hours to finally track down. [New York Times] Jimmy Carter expressed regret about remarks he made about former President Johnson in a magazine interview. Arriving for a campaign trip to Houston, Mr. Carter said the remarks, in which he said Mr. Johnson had engaged in "lying, cheating and distorting the truth," had come in a post-interview statement. [New York Times] Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of armed robbery and using a firearm to commit a felony. Miss Hearst faced a maximum of 35 years in prison, but the sentence handed down by federal Judge William Orrick was regarded by observers to be a good deal more severe than expected. [New York Times] H. Rap Brown was granted parole from Greenhaven Prison after serving almost 3½ years of a 5-to-15-year sentence in a robbery and assault conviction. Shortly after the parole was announced, Mr. Brown's 1968 conviction in New Orleans on federal gun charges was reversed. Without that decision, the former spokesman for black militancy would have had to go immediately from New York to a federal prison. [New York Times] Citibank lowered its prime interest rate to 6¾ percent from 7 percent in the face of continued sluggish loan demand. In Washington, meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee disclosed that it kept monetary policy unchanged at its Aug. 27 meeting. It did, however, narrow the target range for the rate on the money that banks lend to each other. [New York Times] Stock prices fell slightly in much slower trading. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the session off 1.49, to close at 1,009.31. [New York Times] United States Supreme Court decisions prohibiting most parochial school aid were termed "religious repression" by New York Senator James Buckley. The remarks were seen as a major appeal to Catholic voters, who could form a crucial swing vote in the Senate election. Mr. Buckley said the court was unconcerned with individual rights and the protection of conscience in the area of religious education. [New York Times] A proposal for black rule in Rhodesia was accepted by Prime Minister Ian Smith in a televised address to his countrymen. The plan calls for formation of a temporary biracial government and for majority rule within two years. It also provides for an end to economic sanctions against Rhodesia and a halt in the guerrilla war waged by black nationalists when the temporary government is formed. Mr. Smith made it clear that he was left little choice but acceptance.The acceptance of the British-American plan for majority rule in Rhodesia was welcomed by Secretary of State Kissinger as he arrived back in Washington. He warned, however, that Prime Minister Smith's agreement to the proposal was only a start and that problems could still arise if whites and blacks in Rhodesia failed to carry out the plan. [New York Times] The administration's policy in the Middle East received an unexpected setback as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution blocking the sale of Maverick missiles to Saudi Arabia. Administration officials said they hoped Congress would adjourn before the resolution was approved by the Senate and the House. Senator George McGovern, reflecting the administration view, said the 8-6 vote was a "political mistake." [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1009.31 (-1.49, -0.15%)
S&P Composite: 106.80 (-0.12, -0.11%)
Arms Index: 0.84

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	639	7.02
Declines	737	6.82
Unchanged	498	3.56
Total Volume		17.40

* 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 23, 1976	1010.80	106.92	24.21
September 22, 1976	1014.05	107.46	32.97
September 21, 1976	1014.79	107.83	30.30
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