Elections, payrolls, Iran and heavy earnings set up a rough week for stocks

A loaded week is ahead for US markets. Tuesday's midterm elections, Friday's October jobs report, and the threat of renewed US action against Iran are the main wild cards. More than 140 S&P 500 companies report, including Apple, AMD, Amgen, McDonald's, Palantir, Arista, and Atlassian. Friday's declines left the Nasdaq down 2% for the week, a third straight weekly loss, and the S&P 500 down 0.6%, also a third straight down week. Year to date, the S&P 500 is up 10.7% and the Nasdaq up 9.4%. FactSet models 29.5% earnings growth for the season, with blended revenue growth of 12.7%. Energy is the primary driver. Wall Street expects October nonfarm payrolls to rise to 75,000 from 29,000 in September, with unemployment holding at 4.2%. That would keep the Fed pointed toward another rate hike at the Dec. 9 policy update. Apple reports late Monday; analysts expect $1.99 EPS on $113.4 billion in s