carnival

Late-season earnings could help ring in some early holiday cheer for investors this week. Analysts expect strong results from Nike, Bed Bath & Beyond, Darden Restaurants -- which operates Olive Garden and Red Lobster -- and electronics company Jabil Circuit.

The Kindle may be sky-high on customers' wish lists for Christmas, but the holiday season has presented Amazon (AMZN) with a headache: a potential class-action lawsuit, filed the day before Thanksgiving by a former worker at one of its Nevada warehouses, charging that the online retailer has...