News Summary

Shares of Walgreen Co WAG gained about 8.2% after the company reported better-than-expected FQ1 earnings. The company's profit came in at $0.62 per share, up from $0.49 per share, in the year-ago period. The company's sales increased 6% y/y to $17.3 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings at $0.54 per share on sales of $17.3 billion. President and CEO Greg Wasson said, "Our performance during the fiscal second quarter is typically driven by Christmas sales and the cold/flu season, which are difficult to predict. In addition, persistent high unemployment makes this a challenging retail environment during the holiday season. December sales once again will be largely influenced by the final days, which makes this an important week." Shares of KBR Inc KBR rose about 0.2% after the company announced its plans to buy Roberts & Schaefer Co, a subsidiary of Elgin National Industries for $280 million plus working capital of $12 million. KBR purchased the business from Elgin National Industries. The dollar dropped after the US revised its growth numbers to depict that US economy in the third quarter expanded at a 2.6% pace. Against the greenback, the euro gained 0.2520% to $1.3129, up from $1.3096 in late North American trading on Tuesday. The dollar index (DXY) fell about 0.24%. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.