Two of Britain's High Street stalwarts - Tesco and Marks & Spencer - are getting it in the neck this morning.
Tesco (LON:TSCO) issued an unscheduled trading update which contained what The Guardian, the BBC and the FT called a "profit warning" and what the Telegraph called "a major profit warning".
It is the fourth profit warning this year from what is still Britain's leading supermarket (at least in terms of market share).
The Telegraph quotes Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Mike Dennis as speculating that Tesco will actually make very little profit, if any, in the UK in the second half of its financial year.
That's bad news for the likes of Asda, Morison's and Sainsbury's, which will move to respond to Tesco's price-cutting initiative.
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer's (LON:MKS) online offering, which has been flagged in the past as being a biscuit or two short of a family selection, is still attracting criticism for being unable to cope with the heavy demand last Friday.
Perhaps management was perplexed over why British consumers should go on a shopping splurge on the day after a US public holiday, but they did, and it turned into a Black Friday for the socks and knickers seller.
If it is any consolation, an iconic US High Street stalwart, burger vendor McDonald's, is also having a hard time, with the company reporting yesterday its sixth consecutive monthly fall in global sales.
Another retailer, ASOS (LON:ASC), is back in the doghouse after an underwhelming trading update.
The shares have picked up since mid-October after falling out of bed following a profit warning in September, but are back on the slide today.
Profits are set to be in line with expectations, and trading over the weekend just gone broke all records for the firm, but it admitted that the environment is challenging, and its overseas operations have gone ex-growth.
Unsurprisingly, Tesco is seeing the most turnover this morning on traders' screens, followed by Rio Tinto, Standard Chartered ad BP.
On the message boards, private investors are still talking about yesterday's big news from Amur Minerals (LON:AMC), which is one step away from securing a mining licence for its Kun-Manie asset in Russia.
The application is now with Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev’s office after receiving approval from the final government agency.