Stocks in the news: FedEx, Oracle, AMR Corp., Discover

Some of the companies making headlines today:

FedEx Corp. (FDX) said Thursday its first-quarter earnings fell 53 percent as revenue fell 20 percent and warned its profit will remain weak through at least the end of the year. But the company considered a bellwether of economic health, also said it does see signs of improvement in the economy. Results were inline with estimates. Shares fell 1.5 percent ahead of the bell.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL)'s quarterly software sales came in sharply below expectations as net new license fell 17 percent. The disappointing results were even more surprising in light of recent positive outlooks from Intel (INTC) and dampened hopes that corporate technology spending is rebounding. Shares were about 3 percent lower in pre-market action.