Corning Glass Works reported a 40% drop...

Corning Glass Works reported a 40% drop in its third-quarter earnings, while two other glassmakers, PPG Industries and Libbey-Owens-Ford, reported smaller declines in their profits. PPG Industries said its third-quarter net earnings fell 3.7% from the same quarter a year ago, while Libbey-Owens-Ford reported a 7% decline. Corning, N.Y.-based Corning said the sharp decline in profit was caused largely by a $48.1-million after-tax charge for restructuring operations and a drop in revenue stemming from the sale of the company’s refractories business and the transfer of medical-product sales to a new equity company, Ciba Corning Diagnostics Corp. PPG said that, although reduced pension expense estimates increased its third-quarter earnings by $10.8 million, the rise was nearly offset by a $10.1-million charge from the restructuring of its European glassmaking operations. Libbey-Owens-Ford said the drop in third-quarter earnings stemmed from continuing low demand for capital goods in North American industrial markets.