News stories from Friday April 18, 1975

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

President Ford, in New England marking the start of the American Revolution Bicentennial, called for a reversal of "the long-term movement toward big government" and a return to "the basic American virtues." Mr. Ford, speaking at Concord and in Boston's Old North Church on the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere's famous ride, told his audiences his own conservative vision of America. He said the two lanterns, hung in the Old North Church steeple as the signal to Revere, "fired a torch of freedom that has been carried to the ends of the earth." [New York Times] The Environmental Protection Agency has found the drinking water in 79 American cities polluted with traces of organic chemicals including some that are suspected of being causes of cancer. The survey concentrated on six chemicals, two of which -- chloroform and carbon tetrachloride -- are considered potential causes of cancer. Tests in some cities showed drinking water contained traces of the pesticide dieldrin, and vinyl chloride. The latter has been linked to cancer in persons heavily exposed. [New York Times] The total compensation to top executives of the General Motors Corporation was reduced last year by 68.3 percent because of the 60 percent decline in the corporation's profits. The G.M. officials last year received only their salaries, without the bonuses paid in previous years, according to the corporation's proxy statement for its annual meeting next month. Thomas A. Murphy, G.M.'s chairman, received $272,500 last year. In 1973, as vice chairman, he received $832,997 of which $562,997 was in bonus. [New York Times] The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved legislation that would authorize $200 million in emergency aid for humanitarian relief and evacuation programs in South Vietnam. Meanwhile, the administration's urgent request for $722 million in emergency military aid for the Saigon government remained stalled in Congress. [New York Times] Heavy North Vietnamese reinforcements have moved into the battle for Xuan Loc, 38 miles northeast of Saigon, as other Communist troops staged a series of small-scale attacks closer to the capital. Intelligence sources still expect a full-scale enemy thrust at Saigon soon. [New York Times] Thousands of Cambodian civilians were reported to be leaving Phnom Penh under orders from the victorious Communist force. In the last news dispatch filed from the Cambodian capital by a French news agency before communications were cut off, it was reported that Communist patrols were telling all residents to go more than 12 miles into the countryside. The patrols were reportedly saying that the city might come under shelling. [New York Times] Retail prices in Britain climbed a record of 21.2 percent in the 12 months through March, according to a government report in London. The report appeared to confirm that the British would experience the highest inflation in the industrialized world in coming months. Three days ago a government tax increase added 2.75 percent to the price index. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 808.43 (-11.03, -1.35%)
S&P Composite: 86.30 (-0.95, -1.09%)
Arms Index: 1.05

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	545	7.30
Declines	884	12.49
Unchanged	411	2.82
Total Volume		22.61

* 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 17, 1975	819.46	87.25	32.65
April 16, 1975	815.71	86.60	22.97
April 15, 1975	815.08	86.30	29.62
April 14, 1975	806.95	85.60	26.80
April 11, 1975	789.50	84.18	20.16
April 10, 1975	781.29	83.77	24.99
April 9, 1975	767.99	82.84	18.12
April 8, 1975	749.22	80.99	14.32
April 7, 1975	742.88	80.35	13.86
April 4, 1975	747.26	80.88	14.17