PREVIEW - Retailers in focus as earnings season draws to a close

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retailers are poised to defy gloom next week as earnings expectations have improved, but the big test will be what they say about holiday shopping.

Earnings estimates for Standard & Poor's 500 retailers have headed higher in recent weeks, some after October same-store sales figures were released Thursday, leaving strategists optimistic about next week's retail results.

The sector takes center stage just as the earnings calendar winds down, with results already in from almost 90 percent of S&P 500 companies.

Same-store sales were mixed. But several retailers expected to post results next week, including upscale department store chain Nordstrom, performed better than expected on the same-store sales front.

That bodes well for next week's results, analysts said, but commentary about store traffic, with the start of holiday shopping less than three weeks away, could be just as important to investors.

"It's all about perception going into Christmas," said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at Cowen & Co. in New York.

The S&P 500 is up 58 percent since its 12-year closing low in early March. But it's down more than 2 percent since mid-October, and investors are anxious to see if the market can hold those gains through the end of the year.

The Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday marks the start of the holiday shopping period, when most retailers traditionally make most of their profits.