News stories from Monday August 12, 1974

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

President Ford, in a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, warned other countries against trying to exploit the change in the administration, and said that the United States would stand by its commitments and would not weaken its defenses. In his references to foreign policy -- only a small part of his address -- he stressed the continuity of the Nixon administration's foreign policy and he warned against "unwarranted cuts" in the defense budget. [New York Times] The thrust of President Ford's address tonight to an enthusiastic joint session of Congress dealt with the economy, He called for bipartisan restraint in government spending to control inflation. Responding to a recent congressional proposal, he also endorsed -- and volunteered to preside over -- a domestic "summit meeting" to devise a bipartisan approach to economic growth and stability. His speech was interrupted frequently by applause, but the loudest applause came when he pledged that his administration would never engage in illegal wiretapping or other invasion of privacy. [New York Times] President Ford castigated the General Motors Corporation for its decision to raise the prices of 1975 cars and trucks by an average of nearly 10 percent, With his admonition, Mr. Ford used an economic policy tool called "jawboning," which can roughly be defined as the use of moral suasion to force a price or wage rollback or reduction, or to prevent an increase deemed unjustified. It appeared that most of his economic advisers -- holdovers from the Nixon administration and said to be unsympathetic to the jawboning technique -- were taken by surprise by the President's criticism. [New York Times] A prolonged drought in the Corn Belt led the Agriculture Department to reduce its forecast of the corn crop drastically. This will almost certainly mean higher meat prices next year. Smaller reductions were reported in the outlook for wheat and soybeans. The agency forecast a corn crop of 4.97 billion bushels, 12 percent below last year's record crop. [New York Times] The United States Commission on Civil Rights charged that state and local officials have urged zoning regulations, building codes and highway construction to keep out or remove the poor and minority-group families from many suburban areas. Federal fair-housing laws, the commission said, have not solved the problem of racial discrimination in selling and renting, and present programs "often are administered so as to continue rather than reduce racial segregation." The commission made recommendations that would, it said, insure more vigorous enforcement of fair housing laws. [New York Times] Norman Sherman, the former press secretary of Senator Hubert Humphrey, pleaded guilty to charges of aiding and abetting illegal corporate donations to political campaigns by milk producers. Mr. Sherman and his business partner, Jack Valentine, who also pleaded guilty, face a maximum penalty of a year in jail and $1,000 fine. Both were named in a criminal information by the special Watergate prosecutor's office. [New York Times] Mayor Beame of New York City and 13 other mayors from across the country will have a meeting with President Ford at the White House on Wednesday to discuss their economic troubles. Mr. Beame and the other mayors are officials of the United States Conference of Mayors and the National League Of Cities. They are expected to press during their one-hour meeting with the President for mass-transportation subsidies, continued revenue sharing and prompt federal funding for housing and community development. [New York Times] In one of the world's worst mountaineering disasters, all eight members of a team of Soviet women mountain climbers died last week as they tried to traverse the 23,400-foot Lenin peak in the Pamirs, the third highest peak in the Soviet Union. The bodies of seven of the women were found several hundred feet below the summit by Japanese and American climbers. The eighth woman was believed to have been swept over the side of the mountain by high winds. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 767.29 (-10.01, -1.29%)
S&P Composite: 79.75 (-1.11, -1.37%)
Arms Index: 1.81

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	443	1.45
Declines	843	5.00
Unchanged	404	1.33
Total Volume		7.78

* 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*
August 9, 1974	777.30	80.86	10.16
August 8, 1974	784.89	81.57	16.06
August 7, 1974	797.56	82.65	13.38
August 6, 1974	773.78	80.52	15.77
August 5, 1974	760.40	79.29	11.23
August 2, 1974	752.58	78.59	10.11
August 1, 1974	751.10	78.75	11.47
July 31, 1974	757.43	79.31	10.96
July 30, 1974	765.57	80.50	11.36
July 29, 1974	770.89	80.94	11.55