Wallich resigns from the Fed

The Federal Reserve Board said Henry Wallich resigned as amember of its board of governors effective immediately due to poorhealth. Wallich, the senior member of the seven-member board, wasthe second governor of the powerful central bank board to announce hewas leaving in the last two months. On Oct. 2, Emmett Rice announcedhe was resigning effective Dec. 31. The 72-year-old Wallich, aGerman-born former economics professor at Yale University, wasappointed by Richard Nixon in March, 1974.

CBOE'S LAHEY TO RUN UNOPPOSED: Gary Lahey, the Chicago BoardOptions Exchange's top elected official, will run without oppositionfor a second term as vice chairman of the exchange, sources at theCBOE said yesterday. Lahey, an independent marketmaker, earlier hadindicated he did not plan to seek a second term, but changed his mindin recent weeks. Sources also said Steven Givot, the high-profileCBOE member who once ran for Senate on the Libertarian Party ticket,is leaving the exchange and pursuing a career as a consultant toclients including the London International Financial FuturesExchange.

ARMANETTI REORGANIZATION OKd: Armanetti Inc., the Chicago-basedliquor store chain, has emerged from its 18-month Chapter 11bankruptcy with approval by the federal bankruptcy court here of areorganization plan. Armanetti President George Paulik said the plancalls for separate repayment plans for two classes of creditors. Oneclass, which generally consists of smaller creditors, will bereimbursed 50 cents for each $1 owed. The second class will berepaid 100 cents on the dollar over a three-year period, with 25percent of the total owed this group being paid immediately.

LOCAL FIRM BUYS HICKORY FARMS: Nutrition World, a small DesPlaines-based operator of Midwest food stores, will acquire a $110million chain of specialty food stores from General Host Corp., ofStamford, Conn., for $43 million. Terms of Nutrition World'sacquisition of Maumee, Ohio-based Hickory Farms were not disclosed.Hickory Farms operates about 240 company-owned stores and franchisesanother 230.

PREMARK DECLARES CHARGE: Premark International Inc., asexpected, said it would take a $115.1 million, or $3.35 per share,charge against fourth-quarter earnings, a move that will result in aloss for fiscal 1986. Northbrook-based Premark said the chargerelates to a $98 million asset writedown of two production facilitiesin Georgia which are expected to have excess capacity, and a $17.1million provision for taxes.

T-BILL RATES RISE: Rates on short-term Treasury securities rosein yesterday's auction for the third consecutive week. The TreasuryDepartment sold $7.81 billion in three-month bills at an averagediscount rate of 5.55 percent, up from 5.51 percent last week.Another $7.82 billion was sold in six-month bills at an averagediscount rate of 5.58 percent, up from 5.50 percent last week.

METROMEDIA SALE: Southwestern Bell's $1.2 billion purchase ofMetromedia's cellular and paging businesses yesterday cleared onehurdle at the Federal Communications Commission when the agencyrejected an argument that the Metromedia franchises were intended forownership by non-telephone companies. The FCC said competition won'tbe harmed because none of Metromedia's operations are in thegeographic area where Southwestern already has cellular and pagingoperations. Still pnding is the FCC's approval of capitalization forthe purchase.

OZITE CUTTING WORKERS: Libertyville-based Ozite Corp. said itwill cut its labor force by 75 people because of a change in businessstrategy and a decision to sell its floor-covering operations toOzite of Canada. The company said it will continue to manufactureits automotive, marine and wallcovering products at its Libertyvillefacility.

ZENITH SUIT DISMISSED: A 16-year-old suit filed by ZenithElectronics Corp. was dismissed by a Philadelphia federal appealscourt Friday. Zenith said it was disappointed but hasn't decidedwhether it would take the antitrust and antidumping suit againstJapanese TV manufacturers back to the Supreme Court for a secondhearing. The Supreme Court had sent the case back to an appellatecourt last March. Zenith claimed the appeals court's interpretationof the Supreme Court's directive on evidence in the case left thecourt no alternative but to dismiss the case.