NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's been awfully spooky on Wall Street lately, but it's not because Halloween is on the way.

The Dow fell to its lowest point in 11 months this past week as surging oil prices, disappointing earnings forecasts and jitters about the economy and the presidential election sparked a big wave of selling.

Next week is unlikely to bring relief, with the same concerns on tap. Election speculation is likely to dominate.

"I would guess that the trend is to the downside for the time being," said Paul Levine, president of Lifetime Financial Strategies. "With oil up around $55 a barrel, the economy slowing, corporate profits slowing, I think the market remains vulnerable."

Roughly half the S&P 500 has reported earnings so far and the parade continues next week with a slew of companies releasing results, including 6 Dow components.

Economic news is also due on the housing market, gross domestic product growth and consumer confidence.

There are also a lot of seasonal factors at play next week, although it's hard to tell which, if any, will emerge, because of the overriding influences of oil, earnings and election.

October is a tough month for the markets traditionally, but can also be a "bear killer," according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

The end of October tends to be solid, and is particularly a good time to invest in high-tech stocks. However, that's not necessarily the case in election years. In fact the last few weeks before a presidential election tend to be rangebound for the market as investors hold off making any big moves.

However, election years tend to be "up" years for the markets and November and December tend to be seasonally strong, regardless of whether there is an election, another encouraging sign.

But 2000 was an exception, in which stocks slipped after the election as the nation endured the first undecided presidential election in a century.

Investors may be worried about the possibility of a repeat this year, something that could pressure stocks next week, the last full trading week ahead of the Nov. 2 election. Polls show President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry in a dead heat.

"I think there is a lot of nervousness that we'll have a repeat of last time," said Douglas Altabef, managing director at Matrix Asset Advisors. "No one wants to see this drag on like it did in 2000."

Earnings so far have been good, although you wouldn't know it from the stock market.

Third-quarter results are currently on track to rise at least 15 percent year over year, according to First Call estimates. Yet, the market hasn't been too impressed, as the earnings are following four quarters of earnings growth of at least 20 percent.

Among the influential firms issuing reports next week are Dow components American Express (Research), DuPont (Research), Boeing (Research), Procter & Gamble (Research), Exxon Mobil (Research), and Verizon Communications (Research).

So far, blue chip results have been particularly unimpressive to investors, which is part of the reason the Dow is down more than the other major gauges. The big batch of blue-chip earnings due next week could remedy this situation or worsen it.

Among the other earnings due in the week ahead are Ace (Research), which reports Tuesday evening and Marsh & McLennan (Research), which reports Thursday morning. Both are key players in the New York Attorney General's probe of the insurance sector and their results will be closely scrutinized.

A lot of technology earnings are also due next week, including Flextronics (Research), Sanmina (Research), and JDS Uniphase (Research).

(For a preview of the key earnings due in the week ahead, click here.)

• The existing home sales report is due Monday. Sales are expected to have held steady at an annual rate of 6.54 million units in September, according to Briefing.com estimates, unchanged from August.
• The October consumer confidence report is due Tuesday. The index likely fell to 93.8 from 96.8 in September, according to estimates.
• New home sales, due Wednesday, are expected to have fallen to a 1.150 million unit annual rate from a rate of 1.184 million units in August.
• Wednesday morning also brings the report on durable goods orders. Orders probably rose 0.5 percent in September, according to estimates, after falling 0.3 percent in August.
• Friday brings the first read on gross domestic product growth (GDP) in the third-quarter. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect GDP to have grown at a 4.3 percent annual rate after growing at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter.