News stories from Thursday January 27, 1972

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

The U.S. and South Vietnam formally presented President Nixon's peace initiative at the Paris Peace Talks. Communists responded with criticism but not rejection. A North Vietnamese delegate said that President Nixon's speech was just part of his re-election campaign, and criticized him for not keeping the secret talks secret. A spokesman emphasized the U.S. government's readiness to negotiate on the eight-point peace plan. [CBS] Secretary of State William Rogers talked about the peace plan at a news conference and stated that he is encouraged that North Vietnam has not rejected the plan. [CBS] U.S. combat deaths for the past week were listed at 2, with 30 wounded. [CBS] American B-52's and jet fighter-bombers attacked the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to interrupt North Vietnam's preparations for its Asian New Year offensive. Ground fighting in South Vietnam was reported in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands. [CBS] An unemployed father of seven hijacked a Mohawk Airlines plane en route from Albany to New York City; the hijacker used a bomb threat and requested $200,000 and two parachutes. The flight was forced to land at the Westchester County Airport, where the passengers deplaned. Parachutes and money were given to the hijacker and the plane took off. It was then commandeered to Poughkeepsie, New York, where the hijacker attempted to escape with a stewardess as hostage; an FBI sharpshooter shot him.The hijacker was identified as Heinrich von George from Brockton, Massachusetts, whom neighbors described as pleasant, but down on his luck. Financial difficulty probably prompted the incident. [CBS] French officials reported the discovery of an illegal drug laboratory in Marseilles. In the U.S., New York officials seized 86 pounds of heroin worth $16 million. [CBS] The Commerce Department reported that leading business indicators were up 2.2% in December. [CBS] President Nixon made his annual economic report to Congress. Council of Economic Advisors chairman Dr. Herbert Stein said that indicators show a strong upward trend. The President's predictions on GNP, unemployment and inflation for last year were too optimistic, therefore his predictions for this year are a bit more cautious. The federal budget spending ceiling is being challenged in the House Appropriations Committee, and chairman George Mahon got budget director George Schultz to agree with raising taxes if the budget can't be held down. [CBS] The United Transportation Union signed a contract with the railroad industry. [CBS] In Canada, union leaders ordered striking air traffic controllers to end their 11-day walkout. The contract dispute will be settled by an arbitrator. [CBS] The Soviet Union surpassed the United States in steel production for the first time last year. [CBS] Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans has resigned to be the chief fundraiser for President Nixon's re-election campaign. Peter Peterson will succeed Stans as Secretary of Commerce. [CBS] The Senate Banking Committee is holding confirmation hearings on Pay Board chairman George Boldt. an AFL-CIO lobbyist asked that Boldt be fired. [CBS] The Senate Finance Committee is holding hearings on President Nixon's welfare proposal. Former Nixon assistant Roger Freeman denounced the President's plan and offered alternative possibilities. Freeman proposes that welfare children be taken from their families and put in government institutions, and he mentioned giving cash to welfare recipients to pay for their sterilization. [CBS] In Topeka, Kansas, a federal judge refused to allow radical attorney William Kunstler to practice in his court. Kunstler was banned from representing a homosexual organization seeking official recognition at the University of Kansas. [CBS] A taped interview with former President Lyndon Johnson will be aired tonight. In the interview, Johnson said that there's a misapprehension that the U.S. President is the last to learn of news. Johnson stated that he received an abundance of news -- mostly bad. He accepts the blame for mistakes but says they weren't due to his being misled or uninformed. [CBS] Presidential aide Henry Kissinger spoke to the Washington (DC) Press Club, and said that America seeks a peace which is deeper than merely an absence of war among nations. [CBS] A problem in the Apollo 16 command module won't delay the April 15th launch. [CBS] Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson died in Chicago. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 899.03 (+9.88, +1.11%)
S&P Composite: 103.50 (+1.00, +0.98%)
Arms Index: 0.73

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,102	14.49
Declines	412	3.96
Unchanged	243	1.91
Total Volume		20.36

* 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*
January 26, 1972	889.15	102.50	14.94
January 25, 1972	894.72	102.78	17.57
January 24, 1972	896.82	102.57	15.64
January 21, 1972	907.44	103.65	18.81
January 20, 1972	910.30	103.88	20.21
January 19, 1972	914.96	103.88	18.80
January 18, 1972	917.22	104.05	21.07
January 17, 1972	911.12	103.70	15.86
January 14, 1972	906.68	103.39	14.96
January 13, 1972	905.18	102.99	16.41