News stories from Wednesday September 25, 1974

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

Defense Secretary James Schlesinger said that the United States was seeking a solution to rising oil prices through "amicable discussions" and was not contemplating military action against the oil-producing nations of the Middle East. However, he said that inflation, brought about in part by oil price increases, could upset the relative military balance between the Western alliance and the Soviet Union. [New York Times] The higher cost of foreign oil continued to be the major factor in the worsening United States trade picture last month. The Commerce Department reports a record monthly deficit of more than $1.1 billion in its trade with foreign countries, placing most of the blame on oil imports. [New York Times] President Ford is sympathetically considering proposing tax relief for lower-income workers to help them cope with inflation, according to White House officials. They emphasize that no decision has been reached yet, but insist that an administration call for tax legislation to help the poor is a distinct possibility. [New York Times] The Senate Rules Committee concluded its two-and-a-half-day interrogation of Vice President-designate Nelson Rockefeller. The questioning by the nine-member panel ended with Mr. Rockefeller declining to commit himself to whether or not he would invoke the doctrine of executive privilege should he succeed to the presidency. [New York Times] A dime-sized area of former President Richard Nixon's right lung has been destroyed by a piece of blood clot that broke away from his phlebitis-damaged left leg, according to Mr. Nixon's physician, Dr. John Lungren. The physician said the embolus, disclosed by the use of a radioisotope technique, called a lung scan, "is a potentially dangerous situation but it is not critical at this time." He said Mr. Nixon reported experiencing no chest pains. [New York Times] United States District Judge J. Robert Elliott, sighting "massive adverse pretrial publicity," overturned the My Lai murder conviction of former Lt. William Calley and ordered him released "forthwith" from incarceration at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Mr. Calley was the only man found guilty in the 1968 slayings of Vietnam civilians. [New York Times] Clint Murchison, a Texas realtor and financier, will build the first new hotel in lower Manhattan since the turn of the century. The planned $50 million, 20-story building is to be the final component of the World Trade Center, developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The hotel is to have 800 rooms. [New York Times] The high holidays in Israel this year have been dominated by memories of the war that erupted without warning a year ago on the Hebrew calendar. Reinforced security patrols are visible all over Jerusalem and members of the Israeli civil guard were given special permission to carry their weapons while attending Yom Kippur services in their synagogues. [New York Times] In one of the strongest actions yet by any Western nation to reduce fuel bills, the French cabinet has set a $10.1 billion ceiling on spending for oil imports next year. It also has ordered cutbacks in industrial and home heating consumption. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 649.95 (-4.15, -0.63%)
S&P Composite: 67.57 (-0.45, -0.66%)
Arms Index: 1.80

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	829	6.96
Declines	560	8.45
Unchanged	391	2.21
Total Volume		17.62

* 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*
September 24, 1974	654.10	68.02	9.84
September 23, 1974	663.72	69.42	12.13
September 20, 1974	670.76	70.14	16.25
September 19, 1974	674.05	70.09	17.00
September 18, 1974	651.91	67.72	11.76
September 17, 1974	648.78	67.38	13.73
September 16, 1974	639.78	66.26	18.37
September 13, 1974	627.19	65.20	16.07
September 12, 1974	641.74	66.71	16.92
September 11, 1974	654.72	68.55	11.82