News stories from Thursday November 18, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The United Automobile Workers struck General Motors at midnight, but talks continued in an effort to reach agreement on a new three-year contract. The fact that talks were still proceeding was taken as a sign that the stoppage might not last long. The strike is the second major walkout this year by the union, which shut down the Ford Motor Company for 28 days beginning Sept. 15. [New York Times]
- Jimmy Carter's talent scouts have been instructed to give him the names of at least one experienced Washington insider, someone from outside the capital, a woman and a black for posts in his cabinet. The President-elect is seeking a representative "mix" of different views, a senior aide said. [New York Times]
- Judge Bruno Leopizzi, presiding in the second murder trial of Rubin (Hurricane) Carter and John Artis, issued an order barring anyone from contacting the jurors, their families or friends about the case either during or after the trial. The judge was apparently angered because someone had contacted a juror's family last week. [New York Times]
- Arthur Burns, clarifying his position on taxes when the Carter administration takes office in January, told a bankers' convention that his mind "was by no means closed" to a possible tax cut if the recovery flounders. The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board made clear, however, that he opposed a tax cut at this time. [New York Times]
- Further confirmation of the "pause" in the economy's expansion was provided by figures released by the Commerce Department which, while reporting a modest rise in corporate profits in the third quarter, also revised downward the estimate for gross national product growth, from 4 percent to 3.8 percent at an annual rate. [New York Times]
- Renewed optimism on Wall Street sent stock prices surging ahead, and a total of 1,165 issues on the New York Stock Exchange gained. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 12.05 points to 950.13. The Treasury sold $2.5 billion of two-year notes at an average rate of 5.86 percent, well above the 5.70 percent that had been expected. [New York Times]
- An anti-noise timetable adopted by the Department of Transportation gives the nation's airlines four to eight years to replace or muffle 1,600 planes whose noise levels exceed legal limits set after they were built. The department also announced a new operational rule to diminish overall noise through new landing procedures calling for use of reduced engine power. That rule takes effect next month. [New York Times]
- Samuel Bronfman II denied under cross-examination at the trial of his two alleged kidnappers that he had ever devised or taken part in a hoax involving a pornographic film in which he was to appear. The lawyer for one of the two men on trial contended that such a film was a scheme, planned about a year before the alleged kidnapping, in which Mr. Bronfman would seek to extort money from his father, Edgar Bronfman, chairman of the board of Seagram Distillers. [New York Times]
- A fire killed Louis Cowan, former president of the CBS television network, and his wife, Pauline, in their duplex apartment in Manhattan. "Smoking carelessness" may have caused the fire, the Fire Department said. Mr. Cowan was 66 years old, and his wife was 63. He was a major innovator in radio and television programming. His wife was one of the early civil rights organizers in the 1960's. [New York Times]
- Spain took a big step toward elective democracy as the largely appointed Parliament inherited from the Franco era approved general elections for next year and voted itself out of existence. The vote, 425 to 50 with 13 abstentions, must be approved in a referendum, possibly in the third week of December. [New York Times]
- East Germany clamped down on dissidents and issued new restrictive guidelines on emigration to the West in combating a wave of discontent. Diplomatic sources in East Berlin said the new government policy was first exercised in the exiling this week of Wolf Biermann, a dissident poet. [New York Times]
- A student group has become almost a shadow government in the black South African township of Soweto. Whether from fear or sympathy, residents of the community of more than a million people are generally following the young activists' policies. These have included indefinite closing of illegal bars, a one-week taxi strike, a ban against buying of Christmas goods from white-owned stores in Johannesburg and a bar against sports events. [New York Times]
- Middle East peace can be achieved only by the United States, Egypt's President, Anwar Sadat, has again been stressing, apparently with approval by other leading Arabs. Meeting with American members of Congress, Mr. Sadat urged President-elect Carter to develop a plan for an Arab-Israeli settlement. He also told other Congressmen that Arab leaders were ready to sign a peace accord with Israel without any preconditions to negotiations. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 950.13 (+12.05, +1.28%)
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* |
| November 17, 1976 | 938.08 | 100.61 | 19.90 |
| November 16, 1976 | 935.34 | 100.04 | 21.02 |
| November 15, 1976 | 935.42 | 99.90 | 16.71 |
| November 12, 1976 | 927.69 | 99.24 | 15.55 |
| November 11, 1976 | 931.43 | 99.64 | 13.23 |
| November 10, 1976 | 924.04 | 98.81 | 18.89 |
| November 9, 1976 | 930.77 | 99.32 | 19.21 |
| November 8, 1976 | 933.68 | 99.60 | 16.52 |
| November 5, 1976 | 943.07 | 100.82 | 20.78 |
| November 4, 1976 | 960.44 | 102.41 | 21.70 |