Black Friday is next week, and that should inject the retail sector with some much-needed life. We’ll have a better gauge of what to expect after the next few days, however. Many of the largest retailers in the U.S. report third-quarter earnings this week. Keep an eye on the fourth-quarter and year-end guidance sections of those reports. Those could clue us in as to whether we’re in for another record-breaking beginning to the holiday shopping season – or if the sluggish economy and the looming fiscal cliff will weigh heavily on sales. Here is a list of some of the more high-profile companies set to report earnings this week – retailers and otherwise. Thursday is the big day on this week’s earnings calendar, with the top two retailers in America – Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) – set to report: Tuesday Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) Home Depot (NYSE: HD) Wednesday Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) Thursday Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) Gap (NYSE: GPS) Target Wal-Mart Friday J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) For further clues about how to play Black Friday this year, check out my colleague Jason Cimpl’s article from this morning, “ Three Stocks to Buy before Black Friday .”