New Delhi, Oct. 5 -- Get out your trust rope and harness. Investors are once again climbing the proverbial wall of worry-and earnings season could provide the piton that supports the stock market's next move higher.

Really, the stock market shouldn't be holding up as well as it is. Oil prices remain persistently high, bond yields keep rising, and the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate hike remains a question of when, not if.

And yet the Nasdaq Composite has gained 0.5% this week, while the S&P 500 index dipped 0.2%. Only the Dow Jones Industrial Average, off 1.3%, suffered a healthy drop.

The market found reasons to hold up in the economic data-a weaker-than-expected September jobs report, particularly slowing wage growth, helped soo...