News stories from Monday September 30, 1974

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

President Ford promised that he would appear personally before a House subcommittee within the next 10 days to answer a series of questions about his pardon of Richard Nixon. He made the promise in a letter to Representative William Hungate, a Missouri Democrat, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Criminal Justice. Mr. Hungate had recently put 14 questions about the pardon to Mr. Ford in writing. [New York Times] The Watergate cover-up trial will begin on schedule tomorrow because of a decision by federal Judge John Sirica. He severed the case of Gordon Strachan, whose prosecution had become involved in a developing legal tangle, and ordered a separate trial for Mr. Strachan rather than delay the trial of the five other defendants with pretrial hearings on the questions surrounding the Strachan case. [New York Times] In their first decline since last spring, prices of raw farm products dropped 2 percent between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15. The Crop Reporting Board of the Department of Agriculture said lower prices for cattle, hogs, calves, potatoes, dry beans, lambs, soybeans and corn were mostly responsible. [New York Times] Betty Ford's physicians reported that they had found cancer cells in two of the 30 lymph nodes removed with her right breast in last Saturday's operation. They found "no clinical evidence" that cancer had spread and were "optimistic for a prolonged survival." [New York Times] The Senate agreed by voice vote to put the nation back on standard time, but only for four months instead of the old six-month schedule. Since the House already approved the measure, the bill now goes to President Ford for an expected signature. [New York Times] A 31-year-old former convict was arrested and accused of the murder of New York City police officer Patrick Kelly, whose dismembered body was found early Saturday on West 79th Street. The suspect, Julio Vasquez, and two women who shared his one-room apartment, were arrested after detectives reported finding clothing believed to belong to the dead officer and his badge and credit cards in the West 80th Street building where the accused lived. [New York Times] President Antonio de Spinola of Portugal, who assumed the leadership of the country's democratic revolution five months ago, resigned unexpectedly, warning that his nation was heading toward chaos and "new forms of slavery." In an emotional farewell address General Spinola, in effect, left political power almost exclusively in the hands of leftist forces in which the Communists are the dominant element. He was replaced as President by Gen. Francisco da Costa Gomes, chief of the defense staff and long General Spinola's close associate. [New York Times] The Senate voted 57 to 20 to cut off aid to any country that violates United States laws governing its foreign assistance. The amendment was aimed at Turkey because of her use of American arms on Cyprus, but it was framed so that it could also apply to Israeli attacks on Arab neighbors or Arab attacks on Israel. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 607.87 (-14.08, -2.26%)
S&P Composite: 63.54 (-1.40, -2.16%)
Arms Index: 1.48

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	257	1.72
Declines	1,162	11.51
Unchanged	367	1.77
Total Volume		15.00

* 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*
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
September 19, 1974	674.05	70.09	17.00
September 18, 1974	651.91	67.72	11.76
September 17, 1974	648.78	67.38	13.73
September 16, 1974	639.78	66.26	18.37