News stories from Tuesday February 9, 1971

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

Los Angeles was hit by an earthquake that registered nearly 7 on the Richter scale. Some buildings and bridges were destroyed, and 26 people are known to be dead. Eleven people were killed at the V.A. hospital in San Fernando. The dam on Van Norman Lake was severely damaged, causing the area below the dam to be evacuated. President Nixon has declared Los Angeles a disaster area, and Vice President Agnew will view the disaster tomorrow. [CBS] Apollo 14 landed in the Pacific Ocean. It was revealed that astronaut Edgar Mitchell conducted an ESP experiment during the flight; results are not yet known. The astronauts return to Texas on Friday, but will remain in quarantine until the end of the month. Apollo 15 is scheduled for July. [CBS] Little information was received pertaining to South Vietnam's attack in Laos. Bad weather today limited U.S. air support. U.S. bases in South Vietnam were shelled by mortars; 14 soldiers have been killed and 40 wounded since the start of the Laotian operation. South Vietnam Vice President Ky warned that his country's forces could become bogged down in Laos if the campaign becomes extended. [CBS] Secretaries Rogers and Laird testified before congressional committees concerning the situation in Laos. They maintained that the Laos operation will save American lives and speed up troop withdrawal. Rogers said that the U.S. will be out of a combat role by mid-year, but between 40,000 and 45,000 American troops will remain in South Vietnam until next February. [CBS] The Nixon administration mailed reprints of Joseph Alsop's editorial praising the President's handling of the Vietnam war and criticizing doves to 600 editorial writers throughout the country. [CBS] The Pentagon issued a draft call of 17,000 for March. [CBS] Prime Minister Golda Meir rejected Egypt's offer to reopen the Suez Canal in exchange for Israeli troop withdrawals, but she offered to continue talks on those points. Fifteen ships which were caught in the Suez Canal when war broke out have remained there. [CBS] Five people were killed in Northern Ireland near the Irish border when their car hit a land mine. Catholics and Protestants battled at a funeral for two people who were killed in Belfast rioting last week. [CBS] At least 30 people were killed in West Germany when a train derailed on its way from Munich to Zurich, Switzerland. [CBS] In an unexpected development in Charles Manson's trial, Susan Atkins confessed to five of the murders. Her confession threatens the prosecution's claim that Manson masterminded the murders. Some feel that the confession may be an attempt to save Manson's life; other witnesses may be recalled. [CBS] Marvin Catco broke into an abandoned farmhouse in 1969 and was wounded by a booby-trap shotgun blast. Catco sued and was awarded $30,000; today his award was upheld. The court said that no one may set a trap to cause injuries greater than he could legally inflict if present himself. [CBS] The largest railroad union in the United States set a March 1 strike deadline after rejecting a contract because of non wage-related items. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 879.79 (-2.33, -0.26%)
S&P Composite: 97.51 (+0.06, +0.06%)
Arms Index: 0.87

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	738	14.10
Declines	688	11.38
Unchanged	261	2.77
Total Volume		28.25

* 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*
February 8, 1971	882.12	97.45	25.59
February 5, 1971	876.57	96.93	20.48
February 4, 1971	874.79	96.62	20.86
February 3, 1971	876.23	96.63	21.68
February 2, 1971	874.59	96.43	22.03
February 1, 1971	877.81	96.42	20.65
January 29, 1971	868.50	95.88	20.96
January 28, 1971	865.14	95.21	18.84
January 27, 1971	860.83	94.89	20.64
January 26, 1971	866.79	95.59	21.38