News stories from Wednesday October 20, 1976

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

President Ford would not tolerate another Arab oil embargo, he told a White House news conference, adding that his administration's Middle East policies made the chances for another embargo "virtually nil." He said American diplomacy had won the confidence of both Israel and Arab countries, making the chances of their fighting less than in 1973. The assessment reflected the view of the intelligence community concerning the effect of splits in the Arab world, the fighting in Lebanon, Israeli armed power and American influence. [New York Times] A Mississippi ferry capsized after it was hit by a Norwegian tanker shortly before daybreak near Luling, La. As the search continued there were 24 known dead, 18 reported survivors and as many as 50 more missing. Many of the victims were in cars and other vehicles that rolled into deep water when the ferry turned over. [New York Times] Even after J. Edgar Hoover had ordered a halt to illegal break-ins by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there were repeated burglaries of the Greenwich Village apartment of a sister of a Weather Underground fugitive, according to sources familiar with the operation here. [New York Times] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has compiled a massive internal report on allegations that top staff members have sought to stifle questions of reactor safety raised by its own technical experts. In addition, nine staff engineers charged in interviews that the agency had failed to act on some of these questions. This was denied by the chairman of the agency. [New York Times] The Federal Power Commission, which nearly tripled the price of recently discovered natural gas and also increased the price of gas from earlier sources on July 27, ordered a 25 percent reduction in the size of the increase. The action is expected to save consumers $500 million a year, but the F.P.C. acknowledged that gas would still cost consumers about $1.5 billion more. [New York Times] Stock prices posted a second day of modest gains as the Dow industrial average rose 4.90 points to close at 954.87, though the pace remained subdued. Tax-exempt bonds continued to show higher interest rates as new issues entered the market. [New York Times] Thailand still holds nearly two-thirds of more than 9,000 persons arrested since the Oct. 6 military coup on suspicion of being Communist subversives, the ruling junta disclosed. The new government has decreed an extension of the period for detention without trial or charges to six months, from one month, and other curbs. [New York Times] A meeting in Damascus between President Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, indicated that the accommodation they worked out at the Riyadh meeting may have gone further than was previously assumed. There are signs that Syria may have abandoned its policy of heavy pressure on the Palestinians and is now seeking to strike a balance between them and the Christian forces in Lebanon. [New York Times] The Geneva conference on Rhodesia next week faces differences between the white and black sides, and also among black nationalist leaders that diplomats characterize as apparently irreconcilable. British officials are especially worried that black rivalries could paralyze the conference. [New York Times] A poll taken in Western Europe last summer by the United States Information Agency showed the reservoir of good will there toward the United States was at its lowest level since such polls began in 1954, according to a preliminary analysis. The poll was disclosed to the New York Times by sources interested in Jimmy Carter's election as President. [New York Times] Iran's purchase of a 25.01 percent stake in the holding company that controls the entire Krupp industrial complex unofficially cost more than $200 million and will pump about $70 million of capital into the West German enterprise. It was the first foreign purchase of interest in the holding company and reflects a shift in West German opinion to welcome such investments. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 954.87 (+4.90, +0.52%)
S&P Composite: 101.74 (+0.29, +0.29%)
Arms Index: 0.81

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	777	7.95
Declines	596	4.93
Unchanged	515	2.98
Total Volume		15.86

* 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*
October 19, 1976	949.97	101.45	16.20
October 18, 1976	946.56	101.47	15.71
October 15, 1976	937.00	100.88	16.21
October 14, 1976	935.92	100.85	18.61
October 13, 1976	948.30	102.12	21.69
October 12, 1976	932.35	100.81	18.21
October 11, 1976	940.82	101.64	14.62
October 8, 1976	952.38	102.56	16.74
October 7, 1976	965.09	103.54	19.83
October 6, 1976	959.69	102.97	20.87