News stories from Monday March 18, 1974

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

The Arab oil countries, except Libya and Syria, ended their oil embargo against the United States and moved to restore production to meet the needs of American consumers. Saudi Arabia pledged an immediate production increase of a million barrels a day for the United States market, which would restore half the current deficit in American imports of Arabian oil. [New York Times] The announcement that most Arab countries were lifting their embargo against the United States was greeted in Washington with restraint, partly because it had been expected and partly because the official statement said nothing about increases in the production of crude oil. Government and major oil officials continued to be optimistic that Saudi Arabia, the largest producer, would restore her output to what it was before the start of the Middle East war. Still, there was a feeling of unease. [New York Times] Chief Judge John Sirica of Federal District Court in Washington ordered that a grand jury report and accompanying material bearing on President Nixon's conduct in the Watergate scandal be turned over to the House impeachment inquiry, but appeals are expected to delay the order. In a 22-page opinion, Judge Sirica made it clear that the secret report, as well as a sealed briefcase of evidence, deals with President Nixon's acts "in his public capacity" during the period under investigation. [New York Times] Members of the House Judiciary Committee expressed confidence that their impeachment inquiry would be accelerated by Judge Sirica's decision to give the committee the sealed grand jury report. They said that the court decision would increase, rather than diminish, their determination to obtain relevant tape recordings and documents being withheld by the White House. [New York Times] Judge Sirica's decision to give the grand jury report to the House impeachment inquiry was announced on his last day as Chief Judge of the Federal District Court in Washington. He reaches the retirement age of 70 tomorrow, and will be succeeded by Judge George Hart. Judge Sirica, however, will remain on the bench and continue his involvement in the Watergate case by trying former aides of President Nixon. [New York Times] The prosecution put Rose Mary Woods, President Nixon's personal secretary, on the witness stand in the Mitchell-Stans trial in Federal District Court in New York and she promptly told the jury that each defendant was "a fine man." Her testimony was also a mixed blessing in other ways as far as the prosecution was concerned. She became involved in contradictory evidence produced by the defense and the prosecution. [New York Times] The Civil Aeronautics Board ordered a sweeping revision of air fares that will make first-class passengers pay more, and end a system in which long distance economy-class passengers subsidized travelers on shorter trips. The board canceled virtually all current domestic air fares, effective July 16, and ordered the airlines to submit new fares based on the agency's formula. [New York Times] The government moved to make air bags, or some similar kind of "passive" restraint system, mandatory on all automobiles sold in this country beginning with 1977 models. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that the controversial safety requirement would become effective on Sept. 1, 1976. [New York Times] President Nixon's chief domestic adviser said that New York City would receive "a lot more money" for mass transit than is now provided under White House-sponsored transportation legislation. Kenneth Cole, director of the Domestic Council, also predicted that the new mass transit legislation would be enacted by July 1. [New York Times] Bowing to objections of New York City school officials, the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare has canceled the national distribution of questionnaires that asked elementary school pupils how they and their parents and teachers reacted to children of other races. The federal agency had told a number of city schools that they would receive special federal grants only if they administered the racial attitude questionnaire. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 874.22 (-13.61, -1.53%)
S&P Composite: 98.05 (-1.23, -1.24%)
Arms Index: 2.24

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	410	1.85
Declines	1,034	10.44
Unchanged	346	1.72
Total Volume		14.01

* 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*
March 15, 1974	887.83	99.28	14.50
March 14, 1974	889.78	99.65	19.77
March 13, 1974	891.66	99.74	16.82
March 12, 1974	887.12	99.15	17.25
March 11, 1974	888.45	98.88	18.47
March 8, 1974	878.05	97.78	16.21
March 7, 1974	869.06	96.94	14.50
March 6, 1974	879.85	97.98	19.14
March 5, 1974	872.42	97.32	21.98
March 4, 1974	853.18	95.53	12.27