RPT-Wall St Wk Ahead: Stocks eye retailers as jobless ranks grow

* U.S. retail earnings take center stage

* Wal-Mart eyed for insight on consumer

* On tap: September trade gap, November consumer sentiment

* U.S. Treasury refinances record debt (Repeating column that initially moved late Friday)

By Edward Krudy

NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - As unemployment in the United States edges above 10 percent, anxious investors will look to earnings reports from major retailers for signs of life in the beaten-up consumer.

Comments from Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest retailer, as well as from a host of smaller stores, will be of vital importance to investors trying to judge the recovery's pace.

"The best way of gaining an insight into the consumer is from hearing from the companies that sell to them," said Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

Stocks are up 50 percent since the lows in March, but the market has languished recently as investors try to determine the strength of the economic recovery.