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Shares of Ross Stores Inc. skidded in Thursday’s extended session after the discount retailer’s quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street’s target. Ross reported its first-quarter earnings rose to $290.6 million, or 73 cents a share, from $282.2 million, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 5% to $3.09 billion while same-store sales increased 2% in the quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had projected earnings of 73 cents a share on revenue of $3.12 billion. The company forecast earnings per share of 64 cents to 67 cents and same-store sales of 1% to 2% in the second quarter. For the full year, Ross projected EPS of $2.63 to $2.72. Ross shares slumped 7.2% in after-hours trading.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures cut most of their earlier losses Thursday to finish a few cents lower, rebounding from a nearly one-week low. The U.S. Federal Reserve minutes released Wednesday showed that an interest-rate hike was possible in June, providing support to the U.S. dollar and pressuring dollar-denominated oil prices during Thursday’s session. June WTI crude , however, settled just 3 cents lower at $48.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For now, “investors are breaking their heads over the recent comments out of the Fed, and weighing if they are bluffing or not on a rate hike in June,” said Nico Pantelis, head of research at Secular Investor. “This brings renewed volatility to the trading pits.”

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Gold futures settled with a loss on Thursday, at their lowest level in roughly three weeks. Minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s April meeting released late Wednesday suggested that the central bank was open to raising interest rates in June. Higher rates can boost the dollar and weigh on dollar-denominated prices for gold. June gold dropped $19.60, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,254.80 an ounce on Friday.

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The Nasdaq Composite returned to correction territory on Thursday as stocks slumped in the wake of worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates as early as June. The slide for the tech-heavy index follows steady declines over the past month, that saw it decline 5.5% since April 18. A correction is defined traditionally by a drop of 10% or more from a recent peak. Some marketwatchers note that the index never left the correction territory because it failed to top its previous record high. The Nasdaq, which has been the biggest laggard of the the three major stock-market benchmarks, was most recently down 50 points, or 1%, to 4,689.51, down 10.2% from its peak of 5,218.85, set July 20, 2015. The index’s weakness is led by steep pullbacks in Apple, Inc. , which has dropped 28% over the past 12 months and Netflix, Inc. which fell 23% since the start of the year. Sharp selloffs in biotechnology stocks, which declined 29% over the past year, contributed to the Nasdaq Composite’s ugly slump.

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The International Monetary Fund said Thursday it wouldn’t rejoin the Greek bailout program unless the country enacts certain controversial economic reforms, including an overhaul of its pension program. The comments contradict the current European bailout proposals for Greece, which included the fund as a lender. The announcement is the latest step in a simmering disagreement between the IMF and Germany over the terms of the Greek bailout. The IMF is calling for more extreme measures than European lenders say they can tolerate, including a fixed low interest rate for Greek debt and delayed repayments for bailout loans. A compromise is needed by June to stave off a Greek default. The euro and European stocks were little-changed after the announcement.

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Natural-gas futures hugged the flatline on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity rose 73 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 13. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast an increase of 79 billion cubic feet, on average. Total stocks now stand at 2.754 trillion cubic feet, up 791 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 795 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. June natural gas was down less than half a cent at $1.998 per million British thermal units, compared with Wednesday’s settlement. Prices traded at $1.98 before the report.

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Debris that may be from a missing EgyptAir passenger plane has been found near a Greek island, reports said Thursday. Two large orange-colored objects, possibly plastic pieces, were spotted floating near the island of Karpathos, Greek military officials said, according a Reuters report. The debris was discovered by an Egyptian aircraft, according to the Press Association. EgyptAir Flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo disappeared early Thursday over the Mediterranean Sea, the airline said. The plane was carrying 66 passengers.

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From:: Stock Market News