Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of AnnTaylor Stores (NYSE: ANN) were today's high fashion, jumping 14% during trading.

So what: AnnTaylor topped expectations across the board in the second quarter, something the market loves to see. Sales were $558.2 million, topping expectations of $551.4 million from analysts. Earnings expectations of $0.45 per share were easily cleared as well when management reported earnings per share of $0.47. Sales for the third quarter are expected to be $565 million, about $5 million higher than analyst's expectations.

Now what: The company's LOFT stores helped drive results, and margins are holding up well. For the third quarter, management is expecting gross margins to be higher than the 57.2% the company saw last year. With shares trading at a very reasonable 10 times forward earnings expectations, I think this would be a decent bet on a recovery in consumer spending (as contrary as that may be to the market's mood swings right now).

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