News stories from Thursday December 19, 1974

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

Nelson Rockefeller was sworn in tonight as the 41st Vice President of the United States. He took the oath of office with a hand on a family bible and was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger in a televised ceremony in the Senate chamber. Mr. Rockefeller was escorted by President Ford, and members of Mr. Rockefeller's family, Congress, the cabinet and New York state dignitaries were among those who attended the ceremony. [New York Times] The House and Senate gave final approval tonight to the legislation appropriating $1 billion for jobs for the unemployed next year. The money was part of a $5 billion appropriations bill that also allocates money for increased unemployment compensation. President Ford supports the measure and, it is believed, certain to sign it. [New York Times] A group of 10 leading private economists -- including three former chairmen of the President's Council of Economic Advisers -- reportedly favored some government stimulus for the economy at a White House meeting, which President Ford did not attend, but all of his chief economic advisers were there. One participant said, "I can't think of anyone who didn't favor stimulus in some form." [New York Times] James Neal, the chief prosecutor at the Watergate cover-up trial, accused, mocked and scorned the five defendants as he began his final argument to the jury at the conclusion of 46 days of testimony. He was also scornful of former President Richard Nixon, and he told the jury that under the "directions" of Mr. Nixon, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's inquiry into the Watergate case had been "thwarted." [New York Times] Governor-elect Hugh Carey of New York announced that Mario Cuomo, an old friend who had run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor, would be appointed Secretary of State and that Raymond Schuler, the incumbent Secretary of Transportation, would keep that post in the Carey administration. [New York Times] A federal grand jury indicted six sugar refining companies on charges of illegal price-fixing that affected the regional markets of the West Coast and the Middle West. A third civil suit alleged a similar conspiracy in Western and Mountain States. The three regional markets are in 23 states. [New York Times] A company spokesman said the New American Library was suspending plans to publish a paperback edition of "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano," for which it was going to pay $800,000. Little, Brown & Co., the book's primary publisher, is investigating allegations about the book but is proceeding with plans to publish. Questions have been raised concerning the publisher's claim that the book was "dictated" by Lucky Luciano, the late Mafia boss. [New York Times] The Soviet Union followed its disavowal on Wednesday of a deal on emigration for trade benefits with a private denunciation of congressional approval of a four-year ceiling of $300 million on Export-Import Bank credits to the Soviet Union. State Department officials said that the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin, had told Secretary of State Kissinger that Moscow was angry about the credit curbs.The Soviet Union's disavowal of any understanding linking American trade concessions to freer emigration from the Soviet Union has not caused noticeable alarm among Jewish activists in Moscow, but some expressed concern for the future. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 604.43 (+0.94, +0.16%)
S&P Composite: 67.75 (-0.15, -0.22%)
Arms Index: 1.17

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	593	5.05
Declines	783	7.82
Unchanged	484	3.03
Total Volume		15.90

* 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*
December 18, 1974	603.49	67.90	18.05
December 17, 1974	597.54	67.58	16.88
December 16, 1974	586.83	66.46	15.37
December 13, 1974	592.77	67.07	14.00
December 12, 1974	596.37	67.45	15.39
December 11, 1974	595.35	67.67	15.70
December 10, 1974	593.87	67.28	15.69
December 9, 1974	579.94	65.60	14.66
December 6, 1974	577.60	65.01	15.50
December 5, 1974	587.11	66.13	12.89