Check out how international sales and the weak dollar continue to lift quarterly results at U.S. companies.

Second-quarter profit at cosmetics firm Avon Products Inc more than doubled, as demand in Latin America and other overseas markets more than made up for sagging U. S. results.

Office Depot posted a 6 percent drop in North American retail sales, but a 13 percent rise in international sales during in its most recent quarter.

Still, investors are wondering when and if the United States’ economic malaise will spread to markets like Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Some cracks are already showing. Britain’s stressed housing market is putting pressure on consumer spending and Spain has reported a plunge in June retail sales amid a severe economic slowdown.

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(Photo: REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak)

Think a penny can’t buy much these days? If you’re a back-to-school shopper, think again.

Major office supply retailers–Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax–are offering some basic school supplies for a penny and have marked down other items to give consumers relief from higher gas and food prices and to try to lure shoppers over the next couple of months.

OfficeMax is cutting prices on more than 100 back-to-school supplies and said it would feature a “penny offer” each week. It is also running bundled specials that include a one-cent item with the purchase of one or more regularly priced products.

Office Depot said it has penny specials that will alternate each week. Current one-cent offerings include a 12-pack of eraser caps (Office Depot branded, of course) and an Office Depot ruler. The retailer is also providing a “Free Item of the Week” during back-to-school season.

Last week, Staples kicked off its back-to-school promotions by offering an eight-pack of No. 2 pencils for a penny. That chain is also offering 10-cent and 25-cent specials for back-to-school shoppers.

(Photo: Reuters)

Check out more woe for the office supply sector, specifically Office Depot

The retailer warned that same-store sales in North America fell nearly 10 percent during the second quarter and said operating margins would fall more than expected as business conditions worsened. The news sparked a sharp sell-off in the stock as well as those of rivals Staples and OfficeMax.

Recent months have been tough for Office Depot, which earlier this year faced a proxy challenge from a shareholder group seeking to oust Chief Executive Steve Odland from the board. With the weaker second quarter results in view, one analyst raised the possibility that management changes could be in the offing.

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Check out a brewing tussle at Office Depot

The office-products retailer is fighting back one shareholder’s attempt to nominate two directors to replace both its current and former CEO on the board.

Shareholder Woodbridge Group said it planned to nominate an ex-president of Office Depot and and a former president of rival Staples as board members in hopes of revitalizing the retailer, which has been bruised by the economic slowdown that has led small business customers to cut back.

It’s yet one more hurdle for Office Depot, which disclosed last month that it faces a regulatory probe into allegations that it made phone calls to analysts last year warning that weak economic conditions were hurting sales.

The retailer is urging its shareholders to vote down the dissident board nominees. Stay tuned.

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(Photo: Reuters)