News stories from Friday February 4, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- At least 14 persons were killed and 163 injured in the crash of two elevated trains over one of the busiest intersections of Chicago's loop. Two cars fell 60 feet to the street, and two others dangled from the tracks. [New York Times]
- The unemployment rate declined to 7.3 percent of the work force in January, half of a percentage point below December's rate, the Labor Department said. January's was the lowest unemployment rate since last May. But caution tempered the good news. The department's report was completed in the week ended Jan. 15 before the fuel shortage started to shut down factories and businesses. The January rate, therefore, probably does not reflect the full impact of the severely cold weather on employment. [New York Times]
- President Carter's proposed $50 tax rebate is expected by many analysts to pass Congress. Checks amounting to $200 for a family of lour may be sent out within two or three months. Administration spokesmen including Charles Schultze, the President's chief economic adviser, attempted to reassure a skeptical Congress following Arthur Burns' testimony Thursday that the economy did not need the stimulus proposed by the administration. [New York Times]
- The stock market rose on energy-related issues, led by Superior Oil which leaped 16 points to close at 254, its highest price of 1976-77. The Dow Jones industrial average was ahead by more than 3 points by mid-session, but eased to finish only 0.75 points ahead, closing at 947.89. It lost 9 points during the week and a total of 56 points so far this year. [New York Times]
- A Senate reorganization plan that was opposed by Senate members and lobbyists was approved by a vote of 89 to 1. The initial plan, sponsored by Adlai Stevenson III, Democrat of Illinois, would have, among other things, reduced the number of Senate committees from 31 to 15 and allowed Senators to serve on a maximum of seven committees instead of the usual average of 18. But lobbyists succeeded in reinstating 10 committees that had been marked for extinction, and the Senate increased the maximum number of committees on which Senators could serve to 11. "It was a fight over power," Senator Stevenson said. [New York Times]
- Nearly two-thirds of the money that 15 major House committee chairmen spent to win re-election last November was provided by special interest groups representing business, industry and labor. Political action committees, sponsored by unions, corporations and professional associations, gave a little more than $235,000 to the House chairmen, about 60 percent of the $548,000 they spent collectively in campaigning. [New York Times]
- The prospects of a reversal of a New York state law that prohibits the drilling for natural gas beyond Lake Erie's shoreline are good. Hundreds of wells line the lake, which covers a gas field that produces millions of cubic feet of natural gas each year. The gas shortage has influenced a change of official attitude on the opening of all of Lake Erie to gas exploration, from Governor Carey down. [New York Times]
- Senate confirmation of Paul Warnke as his chief arms control negotiator was "crucial" to his administration, President Carter told his press secretary, who relayed the President's remarks to reporters. Mr. Carter, according to Jody Powell, believes Mr. Warnke is the best man in the country for the job as director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will begin hearings on the nomination Tuesday. [New York Times]
- United States intelligence officials said that the Soviet Union and the United States were attempting to develop high-energy beams of charged subatomic particles that would destroy nuclear missiles in the air. American scientists are skeptical about the effectiveness of particle-beam weapons, but the Army and Navy have recently expressed renewed interest in them. [New York Times]
- An Associated Press correspondent was ordered to leave the Soviet Union. It was the first expulsion of an American journalist in seven years and underlined the Soviet government's increasing antagonism toward the Western press. The reporter, George Krimsky, was active in covering the dissident movement. [New York Times]
- Britain's improving financial prospects may make unnecessary the proposed sale of the government's $1.2 billion in shares in the British Petroleum Company, the Energy Secretary, Anthony Senn, and other ministers who oppose the sale have told the government. The sale was proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to help cut the projected national debt. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 947.89 (+0.75, +0.08%)
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* |
| February 3, 1977 | 947.14 | 101.85 | 23.79 |
| February 2, 1977 | 952.79 | 102.36 | 25.70 |
| February 1, 1977 | 958.36 | 102.54 | 23.70 |
| January 31, 1977 | 954.37 | 102.03 | 22.92 |
| January 28, 1977 | 957.53 | 101.93 | 22.70 |
| January 27, 1977 | 954.54 | 101.79 | 24.36 |
| January 26, 1977 | 958.53 | 102.34 | 27.84 |
| January 25, 1977 | 965.92 | 103.13 | 26.34 |
| January 24, 1977 | 963.60 | 103.25 | 22.89 |
| January 21, 1977 | 962.43 | 103.32 | 23.93 |