News stories from Thursday April 14, 1977

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

Withdrawal of his proposed $50 tax rebate for most Americans was announced by President Carter. The President said that he believed that the rebate was not needed now to stimulate the economy, and that it would have been inflationary. He also withdrew his support for tax credits for businesses. The tax rebate faced considerable opposition in the Senate, but Mr. Carter told reporters that he had based his decision to withdraw it more on his reading of economic indicators than on the Senate's reaction. [New York Times] President Carter got hearty approval from the nation's financial markets for deciding to withdraw his proposal for the tax rebate. Stock prices rose sharply in the heaviest trading of the year. Bond prices also climbed -- and interest rates fell -- on the reasoning that the government would not need to borrow so heavily in the months ahead. There was some criticism of the President's decision not to increase business tax credits. With the removal of what Wall Street had regarded as a tonic for inflation the New York Stock Exchange had its busiest trading session in four months. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 13½ points at 3 P.M., but profit taking cut the advance to 8.82 points and the Dow closed at 947. [New York Times] Industrial production rose 1.4 percent in March, the biggest gain in 19 months, the Federal Reserve Board said. The gain was compared with a 1 percent rise in February and an eight-tenths of 1 percent decline in January, when severe cold affected the general economy. [New York Times] One of the bitterest legislative battles in decades is likely to result from President Carter's proposed energy program, members of Congress and staff members say. The general view expressed in interviews was that Congress would reject increased gasoline taxes and that provisions of the program aimed at raising fuel prices faced an uphill struggle. [New York Times] A top-management reorganization plan was approved by directors of the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford II will continue as chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Ford, however, will share his power with two other persons who in theory, he said, will have equal responsibilities. Lee Iacocca, the company's president, was given the additional title of chief operating officer. Philip Caldwell was named to the newly created post of vice chairman. Mr. Ford said that when he was away from corporate headquarters Mr. Caldwell would be in charge, and that when Mr. Caldwell was away, Mr. Iacocca would be in charge. [New York Times] Captains of the Soviet fishing fleet were put under orders from Moscow to observe strictly the new United States fishing regulations. The captains were told that they would be punished if they broke the American law. The Soviet government's official response to the seizure of two of its ships by the Coast Guard was first relayed to American officials in Moscow and Washington, and then published in the government newspaper Izvestia. [New York Times] Latin American diplomats, some representing governments bitterly critical of President Carter's views on human rights, heard the President make a strong defense of his human rights policy in a speech on Pan American Day in Washington. Mr. Carter promised to sign and seek Senate approval of the American Convention on Human Rights, signed by 10 governments in 1969 but ratified so far by only Colombia and Costa Rica. He also said he would take steps to halt the spread of nuclear arms in Latin America. [New York Times] Moderate liberalization of Brazil's military government, begun when President Ernesto Geisel took office three years ago, was reversed with his announcement of authoritarian measures directed at preventing the civilian opposition from gaining leadership. The most important of the presidential decrees extends the term of the presidency from five to six years and makes an electoral college composed of congress and representatives of the states responsible for the election of the President. [New York Times] Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel will not remain in charge of the caretaker government until the May 17 election. He announced after meetings with cabinet associates that he will instead go on vacation after the Israeli independence day ceremonies next Thursday, and that the interim authority will go to Defense Minister Shimon Peres, the governing Labor Party's nominee to succeed Mr. Rabin. Mr. Rabin's wife, Lea, meanwhile, was indicted for violating Israeli currency regulations. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 947.00 (+8.82, +0.94%)
S&P Composite: 101.00 (+0.84, +0.84%)
Arms Index: 0.71

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	1,142	21.50
Declines	370	4.96
Unchanged	403	4.03
Total Volume		30.49

* 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*
April 13, 1977	938.18	100.16	21.80
April 12, 1977	937.16	100.15	23.76
April 11, 1977	924.10	98.88	17.65
April 7, 1977	918.88	98.35	17.26
April 6, 1977	914.73	97.91	16.66
April 5, 1977	916.14	98.01	18.33
April 4, 1977	915.56	98.23	16.25
April 1, 1977	927.36	99.21	17.05
March 31, 1977	919.13	98.42	16.51
March 30, 1977	921.21	98.54	18.81