News stories from Friday December 10, 1976

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

The recall of 208,000 Chrysler 1973-model cars was ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency on the ground that faulty design and maintenance problems caused excessive air pollution. The order to the Chrysler Corporation was said to be "precedent setting" because it was the first time that cars were ordered recalled for design and maintenance faults rather than for manufacturing defects. Chrysler said it would appeal the order. [New York Times] President-elect Carter has selected the persons who will fill the top national security positions in his administration, but was still undecided about where to place the candidates, an aide said. He reportedly has settled on about six persons for the four or five top jobs at the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council and the State Department. Zbigniew Brzezinski of Columbia University seems to be Mr. Carter's choice for national security adviser. [New York Times] Consumer spending, reflected in retail sales, took a big jump in November and was higher in October than earlier figures indicated, the Commerce Department said. Based on a preliminary estimate, store sales in November of $55.58 billion, seasonally adjusted, were up 1.7 percent from October, a large increase for a single month, and were 10 percent over November 1975. [New York Times] The stock market extended its strong recovery, but with a somewhat reduced momentum, following the surprise cut in the prime rate by the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. The Dow Jones industrial average finished with a gain of 2.41 points at 973.15. [New York Times] By a narrow margin the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point retained expulsion as the single penalty for a violation of the honor code. The cadets rejected a proposal by their leaders that would have enabled honor boards to recommend that some cadets found guilty in a recent cheating scandal remain at the Academy. [New York Times] The bizarre Bronfman kidnapping case ended with the acquittal of Mel Lynch and Dominic Byrne on charges of kidnapping Samuel Bronfman II, but they were convicted of grand larceny for extorting a $2.3 million ransom from Mr. Bronfman's father. Samuel Bronfman said that he was "shocked and stunned" by the verdict. [New York Times] A record wheat harvest of 2.147 billion bushels was gathered by American farmers this year, the Agriculture Department estimated in its final crop production report. Last year's wheat harvest totaled 2.135 bushels, which was also a record. American farmers last month also set a record for corn production, which was estimated at 6.06 billion bushels. [New York Times] Breaking ranks again with the banking industry, the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company cut its prime lending rate from 6¼ percent to 6 percent. Many other big banks in the meantime -- Citibank, Chase Manhattan and Bank of America -- reduced prime rates to 6¼ percent from 6½ percent. Morgan Guaranty made a similar reduction Nov. 19. [New York Times] Representative Bella Abzug, Democrat of Manhattan, was bade farewell at a large luncheon by the women, and some men, on Capitol Hill. They loved her, the congressional aides, secretaries, congresswomen and administrators said among many other tributes. Mrs. Abzug, who lost the Senate primary to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, told the gathering: "Keep your voices up, keep your faith up, keep your spirits up, and we'll all be heard." [New York Times] America's allies might face "an unimaginable catastrophe" if they do not maintain strong defenses while pursuing mutual restraint with the Russians, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said at a news conference at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels. At the end of his last official overseas mission, Mr. Kissinger defended detente and virtually every other aspect of his often-controversial policies. [New York Times] Chinese army leaders appear to be taking an increasingly important role in Peking and in the provinces, analysts in Hong Kong say, and may have a key decision-making role in the Communist Party. The army's new importance was indicated by the attendance of Peking's top political leaders -- many of them military figures -- at a graduation ceremony at the Military and Political Academy of the People's Liberation Army. Hua Kuo-feng, new chairman of Communist Party, wore an Army uniform. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 973.15 (+2.41, +0.25%)
S&P Composite: 104.70 (+0.19, +0.18%)
Arms Index: 0.93

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	904	13.09
Declines	594	7.96
Unchanged	430	4.91
Total Volume		25.96

* 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 9, 1976	970.74	104.51	31.80
December 8, 1976	963.26	104.08	24.56
December 7, 1976	960.69	103.49	26.14
December 6, 1976	961.77	103.56	24.83
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