Earnings reports
- Darden Restaurants Inc.,the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster, showed a 37 percent drop in net income in the fiscal second quarter. For the three months ended Nov. 25, the company said it earned $33.6 million, or 26 cents per share. That's compared with $53.7 million, or 40 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts predicted slightly higher earnings of 27 cents per share, according to FactSet.
- Discover Financial Services' fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 6 percent to $541 million, or $1.07 per share. Still, the results fell short of analysts' consensus forecast, which called for earnings of $1.12 per share. Total loans, credit card loans and Discover card sales volume all increased 6 percent in the quarter.