Stocks Gain as Nixon Future Dims
The stock market rode t'he roller coaster of events in Washington yesterday as investors focused their attention on President NixonÛªs survival in office.</br></br>The prospect of an early presidential resignation and an end to the nationÛªs protracted Watergate trauma shot the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 26,points in the first half hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.</br></br>But stocks gave up half of that gain after President Nixon told a mid-day cabinet meeting that he would not leave office voluntarily. -</br></br>The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials ended the day up 13.38 points at 773.78. Volume totaled a brisk 15.77 million shares, up from the 11.23 million shares traded the day before. Six million shares changed hands in the first hour yesterday but trading tapered off after that.</br></br>The advance, on top of a 7.82-point gain on Monday, was broad-based with nearly three times as many issues rising as declining. The ratio had been more than 12 to 1 early in the day.