News stories from Wednesday February 4, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The prosecutor in Patricia Hearst's bank robbery trial in San Francisco opened his case by portraying her as a willing participant with the people who had abducted her. He said that when she was arrested she had a sawed-off carbine later identified as one used to fire several rounds into a Los Angeles sporting goods store during a hold-up a month after the bank robbery. The defense contends that she was forced by threats and fear to rob the bank. [New York Times]
- Vice President Rockefeller told a reporters' breakfast that he expected President Ford to win the New Hampshire and Florida Republican primaries and the presidential nomination, but indicated his own availability if Mr. Ford were eliminated by Ronald Reagan in the primaries. He appeared to rule out running on a third-party ticket if Mr. Reagan won the nomination, or submitting to a "draft" to run again on a slate with Mr. Ford. [New York Times]
- A major earthquake struck Guatemala, a city of 1,000,000 people, and nearby areas, killing more than 800 and injuring more than 5,000 in the capital alone. The president flew over the stricken area and said in a broadcast that many towns and villages were totally destroyed. The nationwide death toll was expected to reach 2,500. [New York Times]
- Transportation Secretary William Coleman ruled that France and Britain could operate limited service with the supersonic Concorde airliner to Washington and New York on a 16-month trial basis. The decision could mean flights to Washington's Dulles International Airport by mid-April, though opponents immediately started legal action to bar the plane, and similar congressional legislation is also being pushed. Most key officials doubted the Concorde would be allowed into New York for many months, if ever, since additional permission is needed from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This, too, is subject to an indicated veto by Governor Carey (N.Y.) if granted. [New York Times]
- The Senate subcommittee on multinational corporations disclosed payments made to individuals overseas by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. These included $7 million paid to a Japanese rightist with political influence and underworld links, payments to Italian politicians, "gifts" in Turkey, lobbying in West Germany, and the purchase of industrial intelligence from European airline officials. [New York Times]
- An advance copy of a report to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says that its ambitious project to end illiteracy, begun a decade ago, has failed dismally. It says that there are now 800 million illiterates in the world, compared with 735 million in 1965. The report covers 11 third-world countries, all of which, it says, spent too little of their budgets for this purpose. [New York Times]
- The 22nd Congress of the French Communist Party opened with an attack by its leader, Georges Marchais, on the Soviet Union for "unjust and unjustifiable" acts of repression against Soviet citizens. Accelerating the campaign to portray French Communists as independent of Moscow, he used phrases interpreted as alluding to Tuesday's Paris statement by Leonid Plyushch of maltreatment of political prisoners in a Soviet mental hospital. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 976.62 (+4.01, +0.41%)
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 3, 1976 | 972.61 | 101.18 | 34.08 |
| February 2, 1976 | 971.35 | 100.87 | 24.00 |
| January 30, 1976 | 975.28 | 100.86 | 38.51 |
| January 29, 1976 | 968.75 | 100.11 | 29.80 |
| January 28, 1976 | 951.35 | 98.53 | 27.37 |
| January 27, 1976 | 957.81 | 99.07 | 32.07 |
| January 26, 1976 | 961.51 | 99.68 | 39.64 |
| January 23, 1976 | 953.95 | 99.21 | 33.64 |
| January 22, 1976 | 943.48 | 98.04 | 27.42 |
| January 21, 1976 | 946.24 | 98.24 | 34.47 |