The next major clue about the state of the U.S. economy arrives on Tuesday with the October update for retail sales. When we lasted checked in with this metric, consumption had rebounded sharply in September, chasing away a fair amount of the recession blues. The year-over-year pace in retail sales remained encouraging as well, suggesting that the business cycle wasn’t set to take a tumble. But income growth hasn’t kept pace, which raises questions about spending’s staying power. Meantime, the European currency crisis has deepened, casting a shadow over expectations here and abroad.