Northwest Herald from Woodstock, Illinois • Page 41

MARKET Dow REPORT NASDAQ 500 NYSE OIL 0 214.28 11,205.61 33.33 2,195.80 21.76 1,270.32 188.19 8,199.38 $68.69 a barrel Thursday, May 18, 2006 Markets tamMe after CPI rises BUZZ OPENS Consumer prices Changes from preceding month in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers 0.6 logged its biggest single-session slide since falling 307 points March 24, 2003. The Standard Poor's 500 index lost 21.76 points to 1,270.32, its lowest since finishing at 1,262.86 on Feb. 13; and the Nasdaq fell 33.33 points to 2,195.80, showing a loss for the first time in 2006. Investors might have gotten ahead of themselves before last week's Fed meeting. Many traders were betting that the central bank would pause its two-year streak of rate hikes, and catapulted the major indexes to fresh multiyear highs.

The Fed boosted rates to 5 percent and left flexibility to pause its rate tightening. However, the Fed cautioned that soaring oil and gold prices pose a threat to inflation and could warrant higher interest rates to stifle demand and keep prices from escalating. The CPI report and Tuesday's producer price index reading reinforced that warning. from Hewlett-Packard Co. and cooling oil prices.

Wall Street has been extremely anxious about economic news after the Fed last week said more rate hikes could be needed to battle inflationary pressures from record commodities prices. "The CPI data really kicked the market in the teeth today," said Ken Tower, chief market strategist for Schwab's CyberTrader. "So the question now really is where can we find some support?" As the Dow came within 80 points of its all-time high of 11,722.98 last week, many analysts felt the market was overbought and soon would see a correction. But Tower said stocks now were oversold after several days of steep losses, suggesting that investors might start looking for positive signs to spur buying. The Dow sank 214.28 points to 11,205.61, a one-month low.

The Dow slid as much as 245.51 points earlier and By CHRISTOPHER WANG The Associated Press NEW YORK Wall Street skidded lower Wednesday after an upswing in consumer prices intensified investors' fears that the Federal Reserve will extend its nearly two-year string of interest rate increases. The Dow Jones industrial average suffered its biggest one-day loss in three years, and the Nasdaq composite index turned negative for 2006. Investors were spooked by a Labor Department report that its consumer price index swelled 0.6 percent in April, topping forecasts of 0.5 percent. But core CPI, without food and energy, gained 0.3 percent, ahead of estimates and adding to worries that soaring oil prices have begun to lift prices elsewhere. The inflation data dragged bonds lower and overshadowed solid earnings 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.5 "IT" A 0 A 2006 A 2005 AP SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics BUSINESS SEARS GRAND SATURDAY IN MCHENRY McHENRY The new Sears Grand store at 1900 N.

Richmond Road is hosting a grand opening Saturday. It has "the best of both worlds," incorporating product lines from both Kmart and Sears, store manager Michelle Hitt said. Additional features include free Internet access at six computer kiosks, a CD listening station, and a Grand Cafe, which still is under construction. The event will run from 9 am to noon and feature a classic car show and prizes. For details, call (815) 578-4900.

-LizWolgemuth MAN SUES KRAFT AFTER FINDING TOOTH BELLEVILLE -A man is suing Kraft Foods claiming that he found what appeared to be a rodent tooth in a package of Planters peanuts that he bought last year. Cad Cornett, 52, filed the lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court, seeking up to $55,000 in damages from the nation's largest food company. It was not immediately clear when the lawsuit was filed. A spokeswoman for Kraft, which packages Planters peanuts in Arkansas and Virginia, declined to comment Tuesday to the St.

Louis Post-Dispatch. Laurie Guzzinati said the company did not discuss pending litigation. The company did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges that Cornett bought the peanuts at an 0'Fallon store in August and later was eating them at his home when he bit into a "non-human animal tooth." Cornett's attorney, Jack Johnston, said Kraft asked him to submit the tooth for testing. Johnston declined, saying he refused to part with the evidence.

The Associated Press WORKING AT HOME SPURS RETAIL TRENDS Huntley plant would create jobs LOCAL STOCK REPORT By LIZWOLGEMUTH lwolgemuthgnwherald.com Eighty-eight' employees at LDI Industries Inc's South Elgin manufacturing plant will make the commute north to Huntley by early 2007. Manitowoc, LDI, formerly known as Lube Devices is building a facility in the Huntley Corporate Park to replace the 100-year-old factory it now leases in South Elgin. The company plans to create a full payroll of 125 employees over the next few years, said Tom Lukas, LDI vice president and chief financial officer. The new Huntley plant primarily would be used for manufacturing hydraulic reservoir tanks. It offers "great potential" for the company, which designs and manu- factures lubricating equipment, hydraulic accessories and rotary manifolds for businesses in all 50 states and abroad, Lukas said.

Lukas, who co-owns the company with his two brothers, said the new plant was necessary for LDI to become a "world-class manufacturer." Meanwhile, it had to be within a 20-mile commuting distance for existing South Elgin employees, Reiche Partners LLC owns Huntley Corporate Park, and Reiche Construction Inc. is building the facility. Construction began this spring. "This facility will be state-of-the art for them," said Adam Reiche, managing partner of Reiche Partners and vice president of Reiche Construction. LDI Industries Inc.

Headquarters: Manitowoc, Wis. Additional location: South Elgin. Year established: 1962. Owners: John, Mark and Tom Lukas. Web: www.ldi-industries.com.

Phone: (920) 682-6877 in Manitowoc; (847) 742-7270 in South Elgin. Julie Rook, associate manager and senior designer at Walter E. Smithe Custom Furniture in Crystal Lake, is pictured with a modular office furniture set that it offers. Office sweet office Consumers seek custom, user-friendly furnishings for home Stock Close Change American Airlines 25.40 Inc 25.10 Abbott Labs 41.83 Allstate 56.18 AptarGroup 52.28 Baxter 36.99 Cardinal Health 67.21 Caterpillar 75.91 ConAgra 22.45 Dean Foods 35.64 RR Donnelley 33.33 .03 Exelon 54.36 Honeywell 42.00 McDonalds 34.56 Modine 24.87 Motorola 20.99 Navistar 26.02 Nicor 39.93 Pulte 32.42 Rich. Electronics 6.96 Rohm and Haas 49.00 Sears Holdings 137.96 Silgan 37.75 -i8 United Airlines 32.81 .12 Walgreen 39.80 between, so the fax machine or printer can be turned to face either.

Cathleen Faerber, a Long Grove home-based business consultant specializing in executive searches, said she hired Benard to overhaul her living room "which is kind of a useless room in most houses" and create a library and office for her husband. Faerber's husband only works from home periodically, but his ability to access his company's Internet portal means that he is home more often and earlier, even if he still is working, Faerber said. See OFFICE, page 4E commodate changing needs. Tony Benard of Benard Furnish-, ings has been building custom furniture in McHenry County for 25 years. He dates the jump in office furniture commissions to the technology boom, when his customers stockbrokers, pharmaceutical representatives, doctors could start working from home.

The Crystal Lake builder said he made "incredible fancy rooms" for many of his customers, featuring granite-topped desks, wood-paneled walls, stained moldings, and media units to hold plasma-screen TVs. He has built partner desks that seat two users with a Lazy Susan spinning in By LIZWOLGEMUTH lwolgemuthnwherald.com As the saying goes, home is where the office is. Nearly 20 million Americans one in six workers work from home at least once a week, a report released this month by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. As that growing flank of corporate employees make telecommuting a routine part of the workweek, and more small-business owners make their home their headquarters, home-office furniture sales are flourishing and local retailers are catching up to ac Price of water pumped up by oil prices to 10 glasses of water a day to be properly hydrated.

People embraced this "first commandment of good health" with a vengeance, and. it was rare that you would pass someone on the street who was not carrying a bottle of water. But some nutrition specialists, investigating the source of this daily prescription about five years ago, concluded that it had no basis in medical fact. No matter. Individual bottled water sales have risen about 30 percent during the past five years.

For those consumers who have chosen gallons of water annually, compared with about $214 annually for the cheapest jugs of supermarket drinking water. Nonetheless, the cost of a single Brita replacement carbon filter has risen $2 the past 18 months, from $6.99 to $8.99, a company spokesman said. The reason? Believe it or not, higher oil prices are to blame. "There's a lot of resin in the plastics we use to sheath the carbon filter," said Marc Umscheid, brand manager for Brita, which is owned by The Clorox Corp. "Almost all plastics are resin-based, which in turn is oil-based.

That's the hidden By MACKENZIE CARPENTER Pittsburgh Post-Gazette If you think that you are getting gouged at the gas pump, wait until you reach into your refrigerator for a bottle of water. That 9-ounce bottle of Evian spring water at That will cost you about $21 a gallon, thank you very much. That 16-oUnce Dasani or Aquafina filtered tap water brought to you by Coke or Pepsi, respectively will be $1.50 at your nearest vending machine. Lots of things cost more than gasoline these days. Diet Snapple goes for $10.32 a gallon.

Heck, Pepto-Bismolis $123JQ agak. But we consume much more water on a daily basis than that pink stuff. WEDNESDAY WINNER Colgate-Palmolive Co, up 38 cents to close at $60.98 The consumer-products maker started a voluntary early retirement program for some U.S. employeesThe Associated Press reported. WEDNESDAY LOSER the cheaper route to good-tasting water jtiaonrhomeatertersj-fefr wadr P3r-roth-wrarwT)nees7AvhTch affect a lot $16.40 7 Tl theliTgh-tech security cre-dential maker fell despite posting a some sticker shock.

morethangas. Drinking water from a carafe with a "They affect everyday pricing from carbon filter is cheaper than buying bot- toothpaste to lipstick." tied water, to be sure. It costs about $75 a year for a typical household drinking 240 See WATER, page 4E Part of the reason stems from the still common belief that we need to drink eight proht last quarter on more man twice its year-ago sales, The AP reported. Illustration by Daniel Marsula Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Where to find it Briefs Computer 4E Debt adviser 2E Go figure 2E Question? Contact business editor Marketplace 5E Stacey Lohman 815.526.4620 On the money 5E slohmannwherald.com For more business news, visit the Northwest Herald's Web site, www.nwherald.com.