Consumer

Circuit City Is Said to Have Hired Restructuring Firm FTI as Sales Decline Circuit City Stores Inc., the electronics chain that replaced its chief executive last week, has hired turnaround firm FTI Consulting Inc. as an adviser, according to two people with knowledge of the appointment. The shares tumbled the most since 2002 in New York trading.

Tesco Profit Tops Estimates, Resists U.K. Consumer Slowdown; Stock Rises Tesco Plc, the U.K.'s biggest supermarket company, reported first-half profit that beat analysts' estimates after cutting prices to retain British shoppers concerned about their finances.

South Korean Inflation Rate Probably Slowed, Increasing Chance of Rate Cut South Korea's inflation probably slowed in September, indicating prices may have peaked and giving the central bank scope to consider an interest-rate cut to bolster flagging economic growth.

Dollar Thrifty, Lenders to Amend Credit-Agreement Terms for Two Months Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc., the third-largest U.S. publicly traded rental-car company, said lenders approved changes to its credit terms through Nov. 30.

H&M Falls the Most in Seven Years After Smallest Profit Gain Since 2003 Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe's second-biggest clothes retailer, fell the most in seven years in Stockholm after reporting its weakest profit growth since 2003.

Pepsi Bottling Profit Falls Less Than Estimated, Raises Full-Year Forecast Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. reported better-than-expected third-quarter profit and boosted its full- year forecast after raising prices to counter declines in case sales of beverages.

Walgreen Judge Upholds San Francisco Law Banning Drugstore Tobacco Sales Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain, lost its bid to prevent a San Francisco law banning tobacco sales in drugstores from taking effect tomorrow.

Microsoft, Schering-Plough See `Entire Economy' at Risk on Credit Crisis Officials from Microsoft Corp. to Office Depot Inc. and Schering-Plough Corp. said the government's failure to bail out the U.S. banking industry put the ``entire economy'' at risk unless a deal comes soon.

Spam, Still the Mystery Meat, Escapes New U.S. Food-Origin Labeling Rules U.S. rules requiring meat and fresh produce to be labeled by national origin are falling short of lawmakers' aims, leaving shoppers in the dark about where mixed vegetables, steaks and Spam come from, some lawmakers say.