MARKET PULSE-Facebook, Darden, Oracle, AK Steel, Exxon, Alimera

(Corrects Target item to say data breach occurred over 19 days, not only during the Thanksgiving weekend) U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday.

** FACEBOOK INC (NasdaqGS: FB - news) , Wednesday close $55.57, -4.32 pct premarket

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will sell 41.4 million shares worth about $2.3 billion to pay a tax bill, as part of an offering by the social network of 70 million Class A common shares.

** DARDEN RESTAURANTS INC (NYSE: DRI - news) , Wednesday close $52.92, -3.44 pct premarket

Darden Restaurants said it would sell or spin off its Red Lobster business, buckling under pressure from activist investor Barington Capital Group.

** ACCENTURE PLC (NYSE: ACN - news) , Wednesday close $75.62, +0.50 pct premarket

Accenture reported a 2 percent rise in quarterly revenue as demand for outsourcing services helped to offset a drop in income from its bigger consulting business.

** ORACLE CORP, Wednesday close $34.6, +1.73 pct premarket

The No. 2 software maker's better-than-expected results and quarterly revenue outlook spurred cautious hope on Wednesday that the software maker is on track to revive growth curtailed this year by slow IT spending.

** ALIMERA SCIENCES INC (NasdaqGM: ALIM - news) , Wednesday close $2.55, +84 pct after market

** PSIVIDA CORP (NasdaqGM: PSDV - news) , Wednesday close $2.97, +58 pct after market

PSivida said on Wednesday that its licensee Alimera Sciences would resubmit its U.S. marketing application for an eye treatment in the first quarter of 2014. The drug-device combination, Iluvien, is a sustained-release eye implant used to treat vision loss associated with chronic diabetic macular edema, and was rejected three times by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

** EXXON MOBIL CORP, Wednesday close $99.54

The world's largest publicly traded oil company's stock neared $100 per share on Wednesday, the continuation of a rally fueled by investor expectations that it would return more cash to shareholders in coming months. "They maintained the quarterly share buyback after two quarters of reductions," said John White, analyst at Houston-based oil and gas investment firm Triple Double Advisors. Shares of Exxon closed up nearly 3 percent at $99.54 on Wednesday, surpassing the previous all-time closing high of $98.87 reached earlier this week.

* AK STEEL HOLDING CORP, Wednesday close $6.32, +5 percent after market

The steel maker said on Wednesday it expected to report a profit in the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' estimates of a loss. The company also said it expects fourth-quarter shipments to be 13 percent higher than the previous quarter, reflecting its recovery from an unplanned blast furnace outage.

** GENERAL ELECTRIC CO, Wednesday close $27.41, -0.84 pct premarket

The conglomerate expects profit from aviation, healthcare and other industrial units to rise at least 10 percent next year as it aggressively invests in manufacturing while shrinking its finance arm.

** TARGET CORP (NYSE: TGT - news) , Wednesday close $63.55

Target said data from about 40 million credit and debit card accounts might have been stolen over 19 days starting the day before Thanksgiving, in one of the largest credit card breaches at a U.S. retailer.

** BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB CO, Wednesday close $52.59, +1.64 pct premarket

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) has agreed to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb's stake in the companies' diabetes joint venture for up to $4.1 billion in a deal that will help return the group to growth, sending its shares to a new high.

** USEC INC (NYSE: USU - news) , Wednesday close $3.5, +8 pct after market

The enriched uranium supplier, which warned earlier this week that it expected to file for bankruptcy protection, said on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Energy was prepared to extend funds for its American Centrifuge Project in Ohio for three months beyond Jan. 15.

** PAYCHEX INC (NasdaqGS: PAYX - news) , Wednesday close $43.32

The payroll and human resources company posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as it earned more from its main check-processing business. The company posted a third-quarter net income of $158.7 million, or 43 cents per share, above analysts' expectations of 42 cents.

** DISH, Wednesday close $55.29

** T-MOBILE, Wednesday close $27.25, +0.92 pct premarket

Dish is considering making a bid for T-Mobile next year, according to people close to the matter, in what would be the satellite TV provider's second attempt in as many years at acquiring a major wireless operator and potentially setting the stage for a new bidding war with Softbank (Xetra: SFT.DE - news) .

** TESLA MOTORS INC (Xetra: A1CX3T - news) , Wednesday close $147.98, -0.57 pct premarket

A fire department in Southern California said a garage fire may have been caused by an overheated charging system in a Tesla Model S sedan, in the latest link between the top selling electric car and the potential for fire. [IS:nL2N0JX2E2]

** TWO HARBORS INVESTMENT CORP, Wednesday close $9.31, up 2 pct after market

The mortgage real estate investment trust said its unit would buy a pool of mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) from Flagstar Bancorp Inc (NYSE: FBC - news) for about $500 million. (Compiled by Neha Dimri in Bangalore; Edited by Don Sebastian)