Wednesday morning headlines

Market cooling down: The Dow is up slightly in early trading, but yesterday's rally is fading fast.

Jump in L.A. foreclosures: They were up 69 percent from just the previous month and 62 percent from a year earlier, according to Foreclosures.com, Also, notices of default, the first step in the process, increased 47 percent from January.(Daily News)

Fleetwood files Chapter 11: The Riverside-based maker of recreational vehicles said it would maintain day-to-day operations as it looks for a buyer. However, its travel trailer division will be closed, resulting in the loss of 667 jobs. From the Press-Enterprise:

A Fortune 500 company for 28 years, the company boosted Riverside's business image and made the Inland region a destination for other RV-makers. Now, bruised and battered by failed attempts to expand, ballooning debt and an economy in tatters, Fleetwood's stock traded for a penny per share on Tuesday. The company hasn't made an annual profit since April 2000. Since then there has been a flurry of management changes, while the company winnowed its losses from $284 million to $1 million by 2008 after shuttering factories and cutting costs. By then, though, Fleetwood was faced with the country's deep financial slump.

Executive pay plan voted down: Here's a small example of why it'll be so hard to reform the compensation system: Disney shareholders rejected a proposal to give them a say in how much money the executives make. Also defeated at the annual meeting was a measure to eliminate so-called Golden Coffin benefits to the families of Mouse House executives. (LAT)

Merger talks intensify?: A deal that would join the William Morris and Endeavor agencies could be gaining traction, according to the NYT (earlier reports indicated that the two sides were talking). Snags apparently remain.

By many accounts, Endeavor is the No. 1 television agency, packaging shows like “30 Rock” and “Gossip Girl,” and it has a stable of marquee young movie stars that includes Shia LaBeouf and Amy Adams. William Morris, meanwhile, has a slumping TV department (with the exception of reality programming). And despite some hot names like Josh Brolin, some of William Morris’s best-known movie stars, like Mel Gibson and Richard Gere, are past their prime. Yet William Morris has a blockbuster music unit — Britney Spears and Kanye West are clients — and lucrative corporate clients like Coca-Cola and Hasbro.

Age bias claims increase: When companies have to lay people off, the folks earning the highest salaries can be a tempting target. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 age-discrimination allegations jumped 29 percent to 24,600. From the WSJ:

"No one ever says, 'You're old; we don't want you.' They say, 'This may require some lifting. Are you capable?' " said Paul Westgate, who's 58 and says he was laid off from his job as repairman at an Attleboro, Mass., plant that makes manufacturing equipment. The questions make little sense to him, because in his field, ladders and lifting are "almost a thing of the past," and the job is primarily technically oriented, he said, adding, "I can still do my thing." He says, "They want experience, but they want an experienced 30-year-old."

Stewart vs. Cramer: The CNBC blabbermouth has agreed to appear on "The Daily Show" on Thursday night. Show-host Jon Stewart has been skewering the financial network for making some really bad calls on where the market was headed. Cramer, appearing on the "Today Show," brushed aside Stewart as a mere comic. Here's Stewart's latest counterpunch (via Clusterstock). Really funny, especially when he appears as a “guest” on other Viacom programs.