Election results to affect market

The market stands to be affected by issues throughout the week. Today, Cisco Systems will release earnings after the close of trading. According to First Call, a business monitoring firm, the company is expected to earn 17 cents a share. Investors are closely watching the release, as Cisco has beaten earnings expectations for the last 15 quarters.\nThe presidential race and the possibility that power could change in the House or Senate will also weigh in on investors Tuesday. \n"The election and how it's going to turn out has got a lot of people jittery," Peter Coolidge, a senior equity trader at Brean Murray told The Wall Street Journal. "It's not so much which way it will go, but the uncertainty. And more important than the presidential race is how the Congress will be comprised."\nTechnology investors will monitor Dell Computer's earnings report, which is due Thursday. The company already warned investors it would not meet earlier estimates. The company is now expected to meet lowered estimates of 25 cents a share, according to First Call.\nLast Week\nFriday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 62.56 points, finishing the day at 10817.95. The Dow was up 2.1 percent for the week. The NASDAQ Composite Index finished up 22.56 at 3451.58, and gained 5.3 percent for the week. Even with last week's gains, the NASDAQ is still down more than 15 percent for the year.\nStock News\nEuropean media giant Bertelsmann AG announced Oct. 31 it was teaming with Napster to develop a membership-based system which would guarantee payments to artists. Bertelsmann also announced it will drop its lawsuit and gain the right to purchase a stake in the company, according to The Washington Post. The two companies released a joint statement saying they "seek support from others in the music industry to establish Napster as a widely accepted membership based service and invite them to participate actively in this process."\nFriday, PepsiCo admitted it had failed to acquire Quaker Oats, maker of popular sports drink Gatorade. Quaker rejected PepsiCo's "final," according to The Wall Street Journal. Some analysts feel that Pepsi may still entertain ideas of purchasing the company. "If they (Pepsi) were going to do an acquisition, this is the one I'd like them to do," UBS Warburg beverage analyst Caroline Levy said. "It's nice to see them being disciplined on price. I'm not convinced the deal is dead."\nViacom confirmed Friday that is purchasing the parent of Black Entertainment Television for $2.5 billion in stock. Viacom now owns VH1, MTV and Country Music Television. "This accretive transaction is a major step forward in our strategy to expand in the fastest-growing media industry segments and will immediately benefit shareholders, as well as broaden our already formidable presence as the largest national and local platform for advertisers," said Viacom President and Chief Operating Officer Mel Karmazin in a statement.\nFinal Note\nThe market is now entering a time of year in which many traders consider bullish. Last week marked the end of tax-loss selling for mutual funds. November historically is one of the best months for the stock market, said Anthony Cataldo, a professor at Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business.