By Brad Dorfman and Jessica Wohl

(Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is the first of many retailers that will report falling margins as merchants reluctantly cling to steep discounts to draw consumers in this holiday season.

On Tuesday, electronics retailer Best Buy saw its shares fall more than 15 percent when third-quarter earnings missed analyst expectations because of discounting.

Dec 14 (Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is the first of
many retailers that will report falling margins as merchants
reluctantly cling to steep discounts to draw U.S. consumers in
this holiday season.

On Tuesday, electronics retailer Best Buy saw its shares
fall more than 15 percent when third-quarter earnings missed
analyst expectations because of discounting. [ID:nL1E7ND1JM]

Dec 13 (Reuters) – Avon Products Inc
on Tuesday said that it was replacing
Andrea Jung as chief executive, a move that comes as the
cosmetics company tries to recover from a myriad of problems,
including a federal bribery probe and weak sales in key
international markets.

Jung will remain as executive chairman of the company. A
committee of the board of directors will work with Jung to find
an external CEO candidate, Avon said in a statement.

By Brad Dorfman and Jason Lange

(Reuters) – One glance at the numbers for the first big weekend of holiday shopping and you might think Americans are flush with cash and spending it freely.

A survey from the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group, indicates that Americans said they spent $7.4 billion more from Thursday’s Thanksgiving through Sunday this year, compared with the same period in 2010. The news drove retail shares sharply higher and helped the U.S. stock market to rally.