News Summary

Shares of Ann Taylor Stores Corp ANN surged about 9.5% after the company posted upbeat FQ3 results. The company's profit came in at $0.41 per share, up from $0.03 per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items, the company posted its earnings at $0.42 per share. The company's sales increased to $505.3 million from $462.4 million. However, analysts were expecting profit of $0.34 per share on sales of $492.8 million. Crude oil and gold futures declined, after China hiked the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points. Crude oil for January delivery dropped 0.4% to $82.13 per barrel. Gold for December declined 0.3% to $82.14 per barrel. Shares of HJ Heinz Co HNZ lost about 0.5% after the company posted its FQ2 results. The company's earnings came in at $0.78 per share, up from $0.73 per share, in the year-ago quarter. The company's sales dropped 1.2% y/y to $2.61 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.76 per share, on sales of $2.67 billion. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.