Stocks in the news: Sears, JP Morgan, Intel, Hot Topic

Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD) posted a smaller third-quarter loss Thursday of $127 million, or $1.09 per share, combating customers' continued desire to spend money elsewhere with tighter inventory management and cost-control efforts. Shares jumped 4% in pre-market trading. Excluding store closing costs and other items, Sears lost 81 cents per share, less than the average estimate of $1.09 loss per share.

J.P. Morgan (JPM) said Thursday that it will buy the half of the U.K. broker Cazenove it doesn't already own for around 1 billion pounds ($1.67 billion) in a deal that will net big payouts for many current and former employees. JPM shares dropped about 0.8% ahead of the bell.