The Daily Times from Salisbury, Maryland • 36

NASDAQ 15.47 Close: 2,078.62 8.38 Close: 1,175.43 NYSE 43.76 Close: 6,959.30 AMEX 2.08 Close: 1,349.20 36 www.DelmarvaNow.com THE DAILY TIMES Wednesday, November 17, 2004 Market Glance Eisner Ofite had trouble lie 11 DOW JONES 62.59 Close: 10,487.65 NESS By Chad Bray Dow JonM Nminm I 1 A 1995 and then granting him a nonfault termination that entitled him to the massive severance package. How much the board of directors knew about Ovitz's employment agreement and when is a key issue in the case. Eisner said he called all of the directors individually before the hiring of Ovitz as Disney's second in command was announced in August 1995. "This was no secret and was thoroughly discussed individually and with groups" Eisner said. The board voted at its meeting after the executive session to appoint Ovitz as president.

Stephen Bollenbach, the company's chief financial officer; and Robert Iger, ABC's president and chief executive. Ovitz, Eisner and several current or former directors are being sued in the Delaware Court of Chancery over a $140 million severance package paid to Ovitz when he left Disney after 14 months as the Burbank, Calif-based company's president. The shareholder derivative lawsuit which has been in progress for more than seven years, claims Disney's board failed in its fiscal responsibilities by not properly scrutinizing Ovitz's employment contract when he joined the company in GEORGETOWN Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner testified Tuesday that it first became clear in early 1996 that former Disney President Michael Ovitz was having difficulty fitting in with the entertainment giant's somewhat frugal culture. In his second day on the stand, Eisner said the former top talent agent was starting to "rub people the wrong way" and it got worse as the year proceeded.

Ovitz eventually gained the ire of San-ford Litvack, Disney's general counsel; AT Photo Eisner enters Chancery Disney CEO Michael Court in Georgetown. Aero Space buys Carvel Hall factory By Liz Holland SonwrMt Harald fl 1 i' il i 1- tl If Photo A truck driver checks his load of General Motors vans outside the CM plant Tuesday in Baltimore. General Motors announced plans to close the plant in 2005, cutting about 1,100 jobs. id Mo WHAT DROVE THE DAY'S TRADING. A huge jump in wholesale prices sent stocks falling Tuesday as investors worried that rising oil prices were starting to take a toll on the overall economy.

Mediocre earnings reports from retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores also pressured the market Wall Street was concerned that the sharp increase in the Producer Price Index, which rose 1.7 percent in October after a 0.1 percent hike in September, would either eat into fourth-quarter profits or be passed on to consumers, with the latter possibility spurring inflation as time goes on. LOOKING AHEAD. Analysts argued that mediocre forecasts for fourth quarter earnings, especially among retailers, has made investors more cautious after three weeks of exuberant buying. WHAT ANALYSTS SAY. "We had a very nice run, but now I think the market's a little overbought," said Chris Johnson, manager of quantitative analysis at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

"The surge is certainly out of the way now, so it's going to be left to fundamentals, and those are pretty lackluster right now. There's nothing there to really blow your hair back." HOW STOCKS REACTED. Wal-Mart lost 81 cents to $56.89 after meeting Wall Street's profit expectations, posting a 12.7 percent increase in third-quarter profits and earning 54 cents per share. However, the company's third-quarter sales figures were below analysts' estimates, and investors also had hoped for a stronger fourth quarter outlook from the Dow component Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. fared better, beating Wall Street expectations by 3 cents per share on a 15 percent jump in third-quarter profits.

The Dow component also increased its forecast for full-year earnings. Home Depot nonetheless dropped 79 cents to $43. Office supply chain Staples Inc. lost 32 cents to $30.87 after the company beat analysts' forecasts by a penny per share for the third quartet Profits rose 26 percent from a year ago, but analysts were disappointed with a mediocre fourth-quarter earnings outlook. Regulatory and accounting troubles continued to plague mortgage giant Fannie Mae, which said late Monday its outside auditor refused to certify the company's third-quarter earnings report Fannie Mae slipped 80 cents to $.19.40.

FOREIGN MARKETS. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.59 percent In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 0.68 percent France's CAC-40 lost 0.7 percent for the session, and Germany's DAX index slipped 0.41 percent CN THE NET. Hem Yorti Stock ExchjngK www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market www.nasdaq.com CRISFIELD The owners of the Carvel Hall factory have signed a lease-purchase agreement on the building with Aero Space Manufacturing Inc. The company took possession of the property Monday. However, company officials declined to comment saying they would formally announce their plans in a week or two once the property has been cleaned and they are ready to begin work.

The building on Route 413 north of Crisfield has been empty for the last four years after officials with Syrateach, the current owner, said they could no longer compete with overseas manufacturers. Syratech the Boston-based manufacturer of Farberware pots and pans bought Carvel Hall in 1998 after leasing it from Somerset County for several years. The company closed the plant in 2000, although the factory outlet store remained open until last year. The company was founded in 1895 by local blacksmith Charles Briddell, who started out making oyster and crab knives on custom orders for people who worked in the Crisfield seafood packing plants. Eventually Bridell started mass-producing the knives, and later the company branched out into other types of cutlery In the 1950s, the Briddell Co.

was sold to Towle Manufacturing which changed the name to Carvel Hall In 1989, Towle filed for bankruptcy and announced it wanted to sell Carvel HalL The plant closed, then reopened a year later when a group of investors bought it Reach Liz Holland at 410-651-1600 or somersetherald vertzon.net. GM to close Baltimore plant, stop making two van models By Sarah Brumfield Auocaatatf Prau Writer On Tuesday, Ehrlich called Allison "GM's future here in Maryland." Plummer said the union learned over the weekend of the GM executives' upcoming visit They had hoped for a specific date for the closure to help them prepare for the closure. Ehrlich is pressing GM officials to "gift" the 182-acre site of the 3.2 million-square-foot plant to Maryland, so the state can try to redevelop it as an office and industrial park. State economic officials are trying to convince shipping companies at the adjacent Port of Baltimore to establish regional offices at the site, Melissaratos said. "It's a very difficult day," said Ehrlich.

"But it's also not a day for pessimism. We're dealing with it and we're moving forward." Joe Spielman, vice president and general manager for vehicle manufacturing, told reporters after talking with workers that "GM can no longer justify building these two products at volumes that are significantly below the plant's capacity." The plant, one of the Baltimore area's largest manufacturers, had been threatened with shutdown for years. The two vans, assembled only in Baltimore, were introduced in 1985 and "have reached the end of their life cycle," Weinmann said. GM shares were down 59 cents, or 1.47 percent, to close at $39.66 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, GM shares are trading near their 52-week low of $36.90 reached last month. Officials offered to help establish a dutyfree zone at the plant so GM could bring in parts from out of the country and assemble different lines of autos more cheaply, said Aris Melissaratos, state economic development secretary "I'm deeply disappointed that despite an unprecedented bipartisan effort and the accomplished history of the working men and women of General Moters Broening Highway plant we were not able to persuade GM to build a new product in Baltimore," said Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley GM spokesman Stefan Weinmann said it was too early to determine what the company would offer the employees.

The 1,000 hourly workers and 100 salaried workers are covered by a contract that runs through 2007, said Walter T. Plummer, president of the United Auto Workers Local 239. Of those workers, about 600 are eligible for retirement The union will try to help the others find jobs at other GM locations such as the company's Allison Transmission plant in nearby White Marsh, That plant opened in 2000, hiring most of its workers from the Broening Highway plant GM Chief Executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr. said in 2001 that the transmission plant was intended to alleviate the effects of closing the Broening plant BALTIMORE General Motors the world's largest automaker, announced Tuesday that the 1,100 remaining workers at its Baltimore assembly plant will lose their jobs next year when the company discontinues the two lines of vans made there.

The closing was described by one local economist as nearly the "final nail in the coffin for the old industry of East Baltimore." The long-endangered plant which assembles the Chevrolet Astro and the CMC Safari, will close in six to eight months, said James Fielder Maryland secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Gov Robert Ehrlich said his administration got the news about the Broening Highway plant at the same time as workers learned about it at a meeting on the production floor, about 11 a.m. Tuesday. The closing comes at the end of several months of failed negotiations between GM officials and his administration, Ehrlich said. Less than two weeks ago, officials at the Department of Business and Economic Development held talks with GM about installing another line at the plant to substitute for the halted Astro and Safari production, Ehrlich said.

't ii Data Phot ay bay Carta Carvel HaB building outside Crisfiekl Wholesale prices see biggest jump in 14 years By Jeannina Averta Futures CORN S.0O0 Du mrtmum- oar par budial On Wall Street, the report helped to push stocks lower. The Dow Jones industrials lost 62.59 points to close at 10,487.65. It was the Dow's largest single-session drop since Oct 22. Wanting to make sure Inflation doesn't become a threat to the economx Chairman Alan Greenspan and his Federal Reserve colleagues embarked on a campaign in June to raise short-term interest rates from time this year on Dec 14. The Producer Price Index, which measures the costs of goods before they reach store shelves, jumped by 1.7 percent in October, compared with a tiny 0.1 percent in September, the Labor Department reported Tuesday The Increase was the larpest since January 1990.

Wholesale gasoline and home heating oil prices were up by 17 percent for the month. what had been extraordinarily low levels to more normal ones. Tuesday's price report reinforced Fed policy-makers' conviction that they need to raise rates "before anything bad happens," said an economist at John Hancock Financial Services. In light of the PPI figure, some economists raised their forecasts from a 0.4 percent rise to 0.5 percent well above September's 0 2 percent WASHINGTON Wholesale prices catapulted by more expensive energy and food soared last month by the largest amount in more than 14 years. With inflation at the producer level accelerating sharply after months of good behavior, chances are rising the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates for a fifth Dec 04 2021 jo, jo, jnj 4V Mar OS 213 215 212 ti4V May OS 2V JulOS 227i 27t 277 228V SapOS 234 mil 234 236 DscOS 241V 243'i 241 24S1 M0t 248- 250V 24T 250'J 1 MavQt 254 2S4V 254 2s' AI08 257 257i, 257 257,, DacO 257 26pi 251 jstvt -V Stocks cf Local Interest I Mr HO .1 11 ts S4ws 90.196 MnriHaa 131 617 Mwl opw Oio, -443t' OATS 000 Ou iwwimb.

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