Shop 'till you drop it's not, but U.S. women are finally starting to buy clothes again.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Abercrombie & Fitch <ANF.N> posted a much better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, helped by cost cuts, and the retailer's shares rose more than 6 percent.

Stocks struggled Thursday as investors juggled a weak holiday outlook from Wal-Mart and a drop in jobless claims. Techs clawed higher, with huge gains in JDS Uniphase and AMD.

Stocks struggled Thursday as investors juggled a weak holiday outlook from Wal-Mart and a drop in jobless claims. Techs clawed higher, with huge gains in JDS Uniphase and AMD.

Stocks wobbled Thursday as investors juggled a weak holiday outlook from Wal-Mart and a drop in jobless claims. Techs clawed higher after some big news out of the sector.

U.S. futures remained slightly lower ahead of the open Thursday after Wal-Mart posted a 1.1 percent rise in third-quarter U.S. sales, compared to the same quarter last year, and U.S. mortgage applications pushed higher last week. 

What follows is a roundup of corporate earnings reports for Thursday,  Nov. 12.

Stocks closed higher after faltering for awhile on a Federal Reserve report that the economy will remain weak due largely to unemployment.

Futures indicated a lower open for Wall Street on Wednesday as investors paused ahead of key U.S. data, having pushed markets to 11-month highs the previous day,