News stories from Thursday December 9, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Strikingly similar proposals for ending the economic slowdown were made to President-elect Jimmy Carter by the heads of 15 major corporations and the Carter transition staff. Both groups proposed tax reductions for individuals and businesses and a new government spending program whose purpose would be to directly create jobs. The transition staff's program would cost $20 billion, and the corporation executives' proposals would cost $23 billion. [New York Times]
- A vast development agency for the Northeast is looked on favorably by President-elect Carter. He made this known to eight governors from the region who met with him in Washington to discuss the renewal of the Northeastern economy. [New York Times]
- A major investigation of South Korean influence peddling on Capitol Hill was urged by House Democrats in a unanimous vote of the 292-member Democratic caucus. Technically, the resolution could count only as a recommendation since the full House must vote on the issue. But the Republicans have been calling for an investigation for months and it seemed certain that the resolution would be adopted next month. [New York Times]
- Stock prices advanced over a broad front as the American Telephone and Telegraph Company traded at its highest price in a decade -- as high as 63⅝ before closing at 63½ for a gain of ⅝. Credit markets declined in light trading. Bond prices recovered with the announcement by the Federal Reserve of a $2.7 billion increase in the nation's money supply. [New York Times]
- Job prospects for college graduates will be better next year than last June and certainly better than the year before. This is indicated by the sharply increased number of campus interviews many of the country's large corporations scheduled this year. [New York Times]
- Republican Party unity was discussed at a meeting held by President Ford in the Oval Office of the White House with Vice President Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan and John Connally. They decided that a national coordinating committee was necessary to rebuild their party. Five or six persons are being considered as "potential Republican chairmen," the President said afterward, but he would not say who they were. [New York Times]
- A delay of at least a year in the opening of an assembly plant, its first one in America, in Chesapeake, Va., was announced by Volvo, the Swedish auto maker. The company said that its sales around the world had not improved as expected and that as a result there was no need for the factory. [New York Times]
- A pending nine-day suspension of its federal operating license is being fought by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms imposed the suspension because two divisions of the parent Seagram company -- Seagram Distillers and Calvert Distillers -- offered trips to wholesalers to induce them to buy Seagram products. A spokesman for Seagram said that such favors were "common practice" throughout the liquor industry and that they had been approved by the federal agency "for years and years." [New York Times]
- The price of gold advanced on European exchanges following the International Monetary Fund's fifth bullion auction. An ounce of gold sold at $137 in London at the close, up from $135.625 Wednesday. The price in Zurich at the close was $136.50, up from $135.75. The price rose when the I.M.F. accepted bids on Wednesday for 738,000 ounces of its gold holdings at $137 an ounce, a higher price than gold had brought in European trading. [New York Times]
- The Palestine Liberation Organization, which was the strongest power in Lebanon when fighting broke out there early last year, is now under severe pressure from its Arab allies to scale down its political objectives. P.L.O. guerrillas have withdrawn to their camps while the Arab leaders prepare to negotiate a settlement with Israel. [New York Times]
- The Warsaw Pact's proposals for a ban on first use of nuclear weapons and for a freeze on the number of members in the two military alliances were rejected by the foreign ministers of the NATO countries at a meeting in Brussels. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said it would be dangerous to draw any clear distinctions beforehand on when the West might choose to move from conventional warfare to nuclear weapons in event of an attack. Foreign Minister Anthony Crosland of Britain said the Soviet-backed proposals were cheap propaganda tricks. Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher of West Germany made similar remarks. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 970.74 (+7.48, +0.78%)
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* |
| December 8, 1976 | 963.26 | 104.08 | 24.56 |
| December 7, 1976 | 960.69 | 103.49 | 26.14 |
| December 6, 1976 | 961.77 | 103.56 | 24.83 |
| December 3, 1976 | 950.55 | 102.76 | 22.64 |
| December 2, 1976 | 946.64 | 102.12 | 23.30 |
| December 1, 1976 | 949.38 | 102.49 | 21.96 |
| November 30, 1976 | 947.22 | 102.10 | 17.03 |
| November 29, 1976 | 950.05 | 102.44 | 18.75 |
| November 26, 1976 | 956.62 | 103.15 | 15.00 |
| November 24, 1976 | 950.96 | 102.41 | 20.42 |