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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks soared Friday near the end of a tough week and month on Wall Street. But whether the advance was a head fake or a breakthrough could be determined by two crucial events in the week ahead.

"The big hurdles next week are the Fed meeting Tuesday and the jobs report Friday," said Donald Selkin, director of research at Joseph Stevens. "The market reaction to those events may set the tone for the month and determine whether we'll see a November rally."

A November rally would be all too welcome for a stock market that has struggled through a brutal October. As of Friday's close, the Nasdaq is down 2.8 percent for the month, the S&P 500 is down 2.5 percent and the Dow industrials is down 1.5 percent.

Stocks have slumped in October on worries about the outlook for corporate earnings and the economy, as well as worries about inflation and rising interest rates.

The monthly numbers were a lot worse before Friday's big rally, in which stocks surged as investors welcomed a report showing the gross domestic product growth flourished in the third quarter, despite two massive hurricanes and surging energy prices.

Investors will be looking for next week's economic news to build upon that. (For next week's key economic news, click here.)

Additionally, investors will be attuned to any developments in the CIA leak investigation. On Friday, I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was indicted on charges related to the investigation, prompting his resignation.

The news didn't seem to impact the market Friday, but could play a role in the week ahead, particular as Karl Rove, President Bush's top political strategist, remains in legal jeopardy in regards to the investigation.

While the investigation "doesn't impact the market fundamentally, it may impact it psychologically," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.

Hogan noted that the Republican agenda is often seen as more geared toward big business and the fallout from the investigation could make it harder for the party to push its agenda through Congress.

Alternately, it may not have a negative impact, as there's a history of the stock market and investors benefiting when there's gridlock in Washington, said Ken Tower, chief market strategist at CyberTrader.

Analysts say that the selloff of the last few weeks probably bottomed out in mid-October, when the three major gauges hit six month lows.

That has given some analysts optimism that stocks could see a rally in either November or December, particularly with a lot of money on the sidelines. Yet the same challenges that hurt stocks in most of October remain in place and are likely to limit investors.

"What would make me more optimistic is if there was evidence that money on the sidelines is being put to work," said Tower. "But I'm not convinced."

Tower said that signs stronger growth is on tap for the year ahead could provide a catalyst. However, so far, earnings forecasts have been less than stellar.

Any sign that the Federal Reserve is open to halting its rate-hiking campaign would certainly reassure the market.

Fed policy makers meeting Tuesday are widely expected to boost the Fed funds rate, a key overnight bank lending rate, by another quarter-percentage point, to 4 percent. It would be the 12th consecutive hike since the central bank began its campaign in June 2004.

Fed funds futures suggest the market is factoring in rate hikes in December and January, through the end of chairman Alan Greenspan's term.

But beyond that, some economists expect the Fed to pause, perhaps after the newly nominated Ben Bernanke takes over for the outgoing Greenspan as Fed chairman in February. If that is the case, the central bankers may opt to prepare the markets by hinting at this as soon as Tuesday, in the closely watched statement. (Full story).

Although it doesn't fall until the end of the week, market participants will also be attuned to Friday's jobs report to see if employment picked up in October after September's declines.

Although not as much a factor as the economic news, investors will also keep tabs on next week's quarterly earnings reports. However, around 70 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 have already reported, leaving few big market movers in the week ahead. (For next week's key earnings, click here.)

So far, results have been strong, considering the challenges in the quarter. Earnings in the quarter are currently expected to have grown 16.1 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to earnings tracker First Call/Thomson Financial.

That's a blended figure, representing reported earnings and forecasts for those not yet reported.

Around 68 percent of companies that have reported so far have beaten estimates, which is in line with the historic average, said First Call research analyst John Butters.

What's below par this quarter is the amount by which these companies are beating estimates, Butters said.

"Overall, companies are topping estimates by about two percent, which is below the long term average of 3.2 percent and the average of the last 8 quarters, which is 5 percent," Butters said.

That discrepancy relates to the fact that a number of heavily-weighted big cap companies have missed earnings-per-share forecasts by a fairly large number, including General Motors (Research) and Allstate (Research).

• September readings on personal income and spending are due Monday. Income are expected to have risen 0.4 percent in the month, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Income fell 0.1 percent in August. Spending is expected to have climbed 0.5 percent after a drop of 0.5 percent in August.
• Monday also brings the Chicago PMI, a reading on manufacturing in the Midwest region. The index is expected to have fallen to 57.2 in October from 60.5 in September.
• The September construction spending report is due Tuesday. Spending is seen up 0.6 percent after a gain of 0.4 percent in August.
• Also on Tuesday, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) releases its manufacturing index for October. The index is projected to have dropped to 57, down from 59.4 in the previous month.
• On Wednesday, the ISM releases its non-manufacturing survey. That index is expected to have increased to 57 in October from 53.3 in September.
• The preliminary report on third-quarter productivity is due Wednesday. Productivity is expected to have grown at a 2.3 percent annualized rate in the quarter, versus a 1.8 percent rate in the previous quarter.
• Friday brings the October jobs report. Employers are expected to have added 125,000 jobs to their payrolls in the month after cutting 35,000 jobs in September in the wake of the two massive hurricanes. The unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, is seen holding steady at 5.1 percent.

Procter & Gamble (Research) reports earnings Tuesday morning. The Dow component is expected to have earned 76 cents per share, according to First Call estimates, versus 73 cents a year earlier.

Viacom (Research) also reports Tuesday morning and is forecast to report a 46-cents-per-share profit, versus 42 cents a year earlier.

Sun Microsystems (Research) reports results late Tuesday and is seen posting a loss of a penny a share, after a profit of a penny a share a year earlier.

Time Warner (Research) reports earnings Wednesday morning. The parent of CNN/Money's estimated income is18 cents per share, versus 15 cents a year earlier.

On Thursday morning, Comcast (Research)'s profit is expected to come in at 67 cents per share, up from 10 cents a year earlier.