News stories from Wednesday November 6, 1974

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

Democratic leaders took their congressional victory, raising their majority to two-thirds in the House of Representatives and three-fifths in the Senate, as a mandate to construct their own program on the economy and other pressing issues. Democrats won 27 governorships against six for the Republicans and an independent in Maine; in Alaska the outcome was undecided. In the Senate, Democrats captured Republican-held seats in Colorado, Florida, Kentucky and Vermont. Only in Nevada did the Republicans capture a seat held by a Democratic Senator. The race in North Dakota was too close to call. [New York Times] Voters switched in about the same proportion to Democratic candidates without distinction of region, ethnic group, or economic classification, according to analyses and major polls of Tuesday's voting. One survey showed about 8 percent in each category who voted for Republican congressional candidates two years ago switching to Democrats. [New York Times] White House aides said that President Ford intended to adhere to his conservative economic program, which had been drawn up in anticipation of the Democrats' sweeping congressional gains. A clash with congressional leaders who say that they have a mandate for stronger measures appears to be on the way. [New York Times] A federal task force believes that the national coal strike expected to start Saturday will cause immediate production losses and labor layoffs. If it runs six weeks, the damage is expected to be greater than in the six-week 1971 stoppage. Officials are publicizing these points to dispel any ideas that government can produce a better solution than collective bargaining or do much to assuage the effects of a strike. [New York Times] Confirmation of Andrew Gibson as Federal Energy Administrator appears to face problems because of a $1 million separation agreement with a former employer. When he resigned in May after 16 months as president of Interstate Oil Transport Company of Philadelphia, he won a contract for $100,000 a year for 10 years -- an unusual sum, particularly for short tenure. [New York Times] The Justice Department filed a pre-trial brief in its six-year-old antitrust action against International Business Machines Corporation. In its strongest plea yet it argued that anything less than breaking up the corporation would fail to end its ability to manipulate prices. [New York Times] Secretary of State Kissinger conferred with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in Cairo and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. Their strong endorsement of his step-by-step negotiating approach eased American concern about the impact of the recent Arab summit meeting on hopes for peace. [New York Times] Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union called openly for Palestinian statehood as part of a Middle East settlement. In making the official address on the eve of the anniversary of the 1917 Revolution, he predicted failure of the blockade of Cuba, "just as the imperialist policy of non-recognition" of East Germany has failed. He disclosed that the Soviet Union had harvested its biggest cotton crop and second biggest grain crop. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 669.12 (-5.63, -0.83%)
S&P Composite: 74.75 (-0.36, -0.48%)
Arms Index: 1.48

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	882	11.05
Declines	547	10.11
Unchanged	395	2.77
Total Volume		23.93

* 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*
November 5, 1974	674.75	75.11	15.96
November 4, 1974	657.23	73.08	12.74
November 1, 1974	665.21	73.88	13.47
October 31, 1974	665.52	73.90	18.84
October 30, 1974	673.03	74.31	20.13
October 29, 1974	659.34	72.83	15.61
October 28, 1974	633.84	70.09	10.54
October 25, 1974	636.19	70.12	12.65
October 24, 1974	636.26	70.22	14.91
October 23, 1974	645.03	71.03	14.20