News stories from Tuesday December 21, 1976

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

Three Carter cabinet choices were announced at a news conference in Plains, Ga., as the President-elect confirmed his pledge to cut defense spending by $5 billion to $7 billion. He named Harold Brown of the California Institute of Technology as Secretary of Defense. For Housing and Urban Development he picked Patricia Roberts Harris, a Washington lawyer. Ray Marshall, a University of Texas labor economist, was named Secretary of Labor. [New York Times] Griffin Bell, the Atlanta lawyer and Attorney General-designate, belongs to two clubs there that list no blacks as members and few if any Jews. He said he was "concerned" and would "do something" about membership before going to Washington. President-elect Carter said at his news conference that he hoped his cabinet officers would give up membership in organizations that discriminated, but would not require them to do so. [New York Times] A tanker broke in half under the pounding of high seas after running aground last Wednesday on the Nantucket shoals. Some five million gallons of thick, heavy crude oil were released from the Liberian-flag vessel Argo Merchant. As the wind shifted the oil slick drifted first toward and then away from the area's prime commercial fishing grounds, but the spill was nevertheless ranked as a major disaster with other threats to fishing and recreation along the coast. [New York Times] The November consumer price rise was a relatively moderate three-tenths of 1 percent, the same as in October, while food prices actually dropped, according to the Department of Labor. For the 12-month period ending in November, the overall consumer price index rose just 5 percent -- the smallest increase since March 1973. [New York Times] New durable goods orders rose by 1.7 percent in November, the Department of Commerce said, while shipments rose 2.8 percent, also for the second straight month. In the defense goods sector, there was a drop of 2.7 percent while new orders for non-defense capital goods rose by 4.9 percent. [New York Times] Stock prices posted a modest increase, with Dow Jones industrials up 5.98 points to close at the day's high of 978.39. Long-term notes amounting to $475 million will be sold by three major bank holding companies to institutional investors. [New York Times] The jury's verdict was guilty in the trial of Rubin (Hurricane) Carter and John Artis for the murder of a bartender and two of his patrons in a grill in Paterson, NJ., in 1966. After deliberating a little more than three hours, the jury found both men guilty on three counts of first-degree murder. [New York Times] The trial of Anthony Ulasewicz, who was a confidential investigator for President Nixon, on tax violation charges in federal court in Brooklyn, heard testimony from Herbert Kalmbach, John Ehrlichman and John Dean, who were on his White House staff. None testified that the retired New York City police officer actually received the money in salary and expenses designated for him. [New York Times] Olympic broadcasting rights for the 1980 Games in Moscow have been awarded to the Satra Corporation, a concern long active in Soviet-American trade, subject to International Olympic Committee approval, according to a company spokesman in Moscow. The company would not identify its two backers except as being listed on the New York Stock Exchange with broadcasting and entertainment experience. [New York Times] New York City's plight was outlined to the Senate Banking Committee in Washington by Felix Rohatyn, chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation. He said the city would almost certainly be unable to re-enter the credit markets in full when Its federal loan program expires in mid-1978, even if it has met its legal deadline for a balanced budget by then. [New York Times] Egypt and Syria plan a "united political leadership." the countries announced following four days of talks by their Presidents, Anwar Sadat and Hafez al-Assad. The move seemed designed to strengthen the Arab position for negotiations with Israel next year. Egypt and Syria will also study the possibility of a full union. [New York Times] Britain persuaded its partners in the Organization for Economic Construction and Development that it is on the right track for strengthening its economy. As a result, fresh credits are expected to finance both the previously agreed-upon loan from the International Monetary Fund and the safety net now being negotiated to protect the international value of the pound from new declines caused by further withdrawal of sterling balances. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 978.39 (+5.98, +0.61%)
S&P Composite: 104.22 (+0.57, +0.55%)
Arms Index: 0.63

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	826	13.56
Declines	661	6.80
Unchanged	474	4.03
Total Volume		24.39

* 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 20, 1976	972.41	103.65	20.69
December 17, 1976	979.06	104.26	23.87
December 16, 1976	981.30	104.80	23.92
December 15, 1976	983.79	105.14	28.30
December 14, 1976	980.63	105.07	25.13
December 13, 1976	974.24	104.63	24.83
December 10, 1976	973.15	104.70	25.96
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