News stories from Monday December 6, 1976

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

The speaker of the House when the 95th Congress convenes Jan. 4 will be Representative Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts, who was elected without opposition by his fellow Democrats. Representative Jim Wright of Texas will be majority leader. He won on a one-vote upset on the third ballot over Representative Phillip Burton of California, the presumed favorite. [New York Times] Further pressure for a tax cut may be implicit in a report from the Commerce Department that said the nation's business concerns had no plans to increase their plant and equipment investment in the first half of 1977 over what was invested in the final half of 1976. Some of President-elect Carter's advisers had urged him to wait for this report before deciding about a tax cut. [New York Times] A tax rebate for only a year rather than a permanent tax cut has been suggested by Bert Lance, director-designate of the Office of Management and Budget. In remarks following a meeting of the Conference Board at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, Mr. Lance emphasized that President-elect Carter had not decided on the kind of tax relief he would support to stimulate an economy that Mr. Lance said was "in very bad shape." [New York Times] Stock prices rose sharply in continued heavy trading, and the Dow Jones industrial average, which advanced steadily, closed up 11.22 points to 961.77. Prices of fixed income securities dipped and then made a recovery, but the result was modest. Dealers themselves, not their customers, did most of the trading. [New York Times] Whether air bags will be standard automobile safety features is still not known. Transportation Secretary William Coleman asked automobile makers to participate in a program demonstrating the devices, but he put off again the long-delayed "final decision" about whether to require the air bags on all cars. This pleased the automobile industry, but disappointed consumer groups and the casualty insurance industry. [New York Times] Dr. Harold Brown, president of the California Institute of Technology, is said to be the leading candidate for the post of Secretary of Defense in the Carter administration. He was among eight persons requested to attend a meeting being held today and tomorrow in Atlanta by President-elect Carter at which further appointments to top posts in his cabinet will he discussed. [New York Times] The Pioneer 11 spacecraft has provided information that for the first time reveals the structure of the sun's magnetic field, according to scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The discovery was described as a major advance in knowledge of the sun and interplanetary space and, it was said, could also be important in understanding how solar magnetic storms possibly affect weather on earth. [New York Times] They may have worked in the most august office in the nation -- the White House -- but with the approach of Jan. 20, members of the White House office staff are only people in need of jobs. To help them in their search, two members of the senior White House staff, Douglas Bennett, director of the personnel office, and Jerry Jones, deputy assistant to the President, have organized a "job bank" with President Ford's blessing. [New York Times] A new political era in Japan was expected following the reduction in the parliamentary majority that the Liberal-Democratic Party, which had governed the country for 21 years, suffered in Sunday's election. The party, a coalition of conservatives, apparently retains a working majority following the reported adherence of eight conservatives who won election as independents. But it failed to get the 271 seats it needs to control all parliamentary committees. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 961.77 (+11.22, +1.18%)
S&P Composite: 103.56 (+0.80, +0.78%)
Arms Index: 0.69

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,169	17.86
Declines	353	3.74
Unchanged	415	3.23
Total Volume		24.83

* 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*
December 3, 1976	950.55	102.76	22.64
December 2, 1976	946.64	102.12	23.30
December 1, 1976	949.38	102.49	21.96
November 30, 1976	947.22	102.10	17.03
November 29, 1976	950.05	102.44	18.75
November 26, 1976	956.62	103.15	15.00
November 24, 1976	950.96	102.41	20.42
November 23, 1976	949.30	101.96	19.09
November 22, 1976	955.87	102.59	20.93
November 19, 1976	948.80	101.92	24.55