News stories from Friday October 4, 1974

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

President Ford will present to a joint session of Congress next Tuesday an economic program that will require "sacrifices from the American people" the White House announced. The President will not propose an increase in the gasoline excise tax and remains "firmly opposed" to gasoline rationing, according to Ron Nessen, the White House press secretary. [New York Times] Unemployment increased sharply in September, rising to 5.8 percent of the work force, the Labor Department reported. This is the highest level of unemployment since April, 1972 and an increase of four-tenths of a percentage point in the past month. The gloomy picture includes 2.8 million persons involuntarily working only part-time, the highest level since 1961. [New York Times] The Department of the Interior is pushing a Nixon administration plan to begin sales of offshore oil leases off Alaska and in the Atlantic Ocean next year. The plan is aimed at leasing 10 million offshore acres. New Jersey's Governor Byrne expressed his concern over reports that the plan included a number of oil-drilling leases along the New Jersey coast. [New York Times] The Senate voted 56 to 7 to direct the White House to retain custody of the presidential papers and tapes of Richard Nixon and prevent the destruction of any Watergate tape recordings. The action was the most decisive step taken by Congress to nullify an agreement giving Mr. Nixon control of tapes and documents covering his five years in the White House. [New York Times] A Colorado joint venture of four oil companies has announced it is suspending plans to start construction of the nation's first commercial shale oil plant. Colony Development Operations had planned to start construction of the plant in northeast Colorado next spring. [New York Times] The transfer from the Passaic County jail of a major defense witness in the Rubin (Hurricane) Carter murder case was demanded by the New Jersey Attorney General after the prisoner, Alfred Bello, said his life had been threatened. Mr. Bello, still in the county jail, may not be transferred until next Monday. [New York Times] The administration has put a hold order on two new contracts for the sale of 125 million bushels of wheat and corn to the Soviet Union. Officials described the action as an anti-inflation move to discourage speculation that could drive grain prices up at a time when crop prospects have been diminished by bad weather. With the hold order was a directive by President Ford that for the time being he expects no large contracts for grain to be signed without specific prior approval by the White House. [New York Times] Israel's Foreign Minister Yigal Allon says that his country, if attacked, would strike back with all its military might rather than be drawn into a war of attrition. "We would not confine ourselves to counter-attrition," Mr. Allon said before he left New York for home after 10 days in this country. [New York Times] In tennis, India has defaulted from the final round of the Davis Cup competition upon learning that South Africa had qualified for the championship series. Opposition to South Africa's apartheid policy was given in New Delhi as the reason behind the default. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 584.56 (-3.05, -0.52%)
S&P Composite: 62.34 (+0.06, +0.10%)
Arms Index: 1.01

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	588	6.32
Declines	670	7.27
Unchanged	426	2.32
Total Volume		15.91

* 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 3, 1974	587.61	62.28	13.15
October 2, 1974	601.53	63.38	12.23
October 1, 1974	604.82	63.39	16.89
September 30, 1974	607.87	63.54	15.00
September 27, 1974	621.95	64.94	12.23
September 26, 1974	637.98	66.46	9.06
September 25, 1974	649.95	67.57	17.62
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