News stories from Thursday December 23, 1976

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

President-elect Carter completed his appointments to key posts in his administration, designating three men, each with links to past administrations. They are Joseph Califano, who will be Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare; Theodore Sorensen, who will be Director of Central Intelligence, and James Schlesinger, who will be special presidential assistant for energy matters. [New York Times] The nomination of Griffin Bell as Attorney General was decided by Mr. Carter several weeks ago, perhaps even before the Nov. 2 election, many persons close to the Carter inner circle believe. The procedure followed in selecting Mr. Bell, they said, was quite different from the one Mr. Carter used to choose other members of his cabinet. [New York Times] A gloomy economic outlook for the year ahead was published in Paris by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Among the principal problems are increased oil prices and the accumulation of oil-induced debts by weaker countries. The forecast said that the worst postwar recession was being followed by the slowest postwar recovery and that prospects might improve if the three strongest O.E.C,D. member nations, the United States, West Germany and Japan, took steps to stimulate their economies. [New York Times] Whether the American Motors Corporation, which has been experiencing growing losses, can remain in business depends on its ability to maintain adequate financing and to improve operating results, according to an assessment of the company's financial condition by its independent auditors, Touche Ross & Co. The report found that A.M.C. had about $63 million in short-term debts due this month and had only $59.7 million in cash on hand at the end of its fiscal year last September. [New York Times] Stock prices closed mixed, and a two-day advance was ended by tax selling and profit taking. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.08 points at 985.62. Declines on the New York Stock Exchange outnumbered advances by only a small margin. Credit markets continued steady, although trading activity as the Christmas weekend approached was one-twentieth the normal volume, according to one dealer's estimate. [New York Times] At least $1.16 million, said to be intended for distribution to American political candidates, was kept in 20 bank accounts by a retired top executive of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, it was disclosed at a special investigation in Washington. The former executive, Robert Beasely, who had been Firestone's chief financial officer, was also charged with failing to account for more than half the money. The investigators recommended that Firestone take legal action to recover it. [New York Times] Connecticut's depressed economy will be revivified with a $3.4 billion contract that the Army has entered into with Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford for the production of a new generation of combat assault helicopters. A total of 1,107 helicopters are to be produced at a cost of $1.5 million each. Sikorsky has been without government contracts, and operating at only 23 percent of capacity. [New York Times] A close but highly important victory was won by the United Auto Workers in its first test of strength in the South since General Motors agreed to take a neutral stance in union organizing activities there. After their colleagues had rejected unionization at three other G.M. plants in the South, the workers at the plant at Monroe, La., voted 323 to 280 in favor of the union. [New York Times] Government sources said that the navigating equipment, including the depth finder, of the Liberian-flag tanker Argo Merchant was not working when it ran aground on the Nantucket shoals. Without the equipment, which the sources said had been turned off, the ship's officers had no way of knowing where she was, even though she was in exceptionally well-charted waters. [New York Times] Peru's military government, disillusioned with its experiment in third-world socialism, is restoring private enterprise in much of the economy. President Francisco Morales Bermudez, leader of the moderates who displaced an influential left-wing group in the armed forces last July, recently spoke of holding municipal elections, which would mean the beginning of the end of an eight-year military monopoly in politics. [New York Times] The official view in China is that no leniency should be given to Chiang Ching, Mao Tse-tung's widow, and three other disgraced members of the Politburo. It appears that Miss Chiang and her colleagues might even face execution. This was indicated in an editorial in the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Jenmin Jih Pao that said the four were "active counter revolutionaries," an offense usually deserving death in Communist eyes. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 985.62 (+1.08, +0.11%)
S&P Composite: 104.84 (+0.13, +0.12%)
Arms Index: 0.88

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	726	10.42
Declines	786	9.98
Unchanged	447	4.16
Total Volume		24.56

* 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 22, 1976	984.54	104.71	26.97
December 21, 1976	978.39	104.22	24.39
December 20, 1976	972.41	103.65	20.69
December 17, 1976	979.06	104.26	23.87
December 16, 1976	981.30	104.80	23.92
December 15, 1976	983.79	105.14	28.30
December 14, 1976	980.63	105.07	25.13
December 13, 1976	974.24	104.63	24.83
December 10, 1976	973.15	104.70	25.96
December 9, 1976	970.74	104.51	31.80