Corporate earnings should be strong enough to lead stocks higher, TheStreet CIO Stephanie Link said Thursday.

"We were doing pretty well on the economic front here until we had Washington issues," she said a day after Congress approved a budget deal to reopen the government and authorize payment of debt obligations. "Now, we focus on earnings."

(Read more: Dirty details of the 'clean bill' that reopened government)

On CNBC's "Fast Money," Link said she had been a buyer amid declines and would continue through the end of the year.

"Next year, totally different story because we're going to go back through this whole thing again, and we could see some uneasiness, and we have to see if that's going to impact the economy," she said. "But for right now, I think, you definitely want to be involved in the market."

Joe Terranova of Virtus Investment Partners also said that investors should focus on earnings, noting that IBM and Goldman Sachs had missed Wall Street earnings estimates.

(Read more: 3 top tech stocks not 'yesteryear' names: Pro)

However, he added, energy names such as CSX and Peabody were providing improved guidance.

OptionMonster's Jon Najarian said he expected more political rancor, estimating a 95 percent chance that Washington politicians will "go back to fighting again" beginning late December and into January.

"Unfortunately, that's the system we've got," he said. "But we all have to trade it."

Rosecliff Capital's Mike Murphy sounded positive on stocks.

(Read more: 3 top post-shutdown stocks to buy: Pro)

"The market's telling you it wants to go higher," he said, noting that despite potential political headwinds early next year, there was opportunity now.

UnitedHealth, Murphy said, was a strong name that had been oversold.

"This is a stock-picking market right now, and if you do it right there's a lot of money to be made," he added.

— By CNBC's Bruno J. Navarro. Follow him on Twitter @Bruno_J_Navarro.

Trader disclosure: On Oct. 17, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Michael Murphy is long BAC; Michael Murphy is long C; Michael Murphy is long FB; Michael Murphy is long UNH; Michael Murphy is long HTZ; Jon Najarian is long AAPL; Jon Najarian is long GLD; Jon Najarian is long XLU; Jon Najarian is long FB; Jon Najarian is long MSFT; Jon Najarian is long PRU; Jon Najarian is long KEY; Jon Najarian is long GNW; Jon Najarian is long SLCA; Jon Najarian is long BTU; Jon Najarian is long puts XOP; Stephanie Link is long AAPL; Stephanie Link is long JPM; Stephanie Link is long WFC; Stephanie Link is long CSCO; Stephanie Link is long FB; Stephanie Link is long KEY; Stephanie Link is long MS; Stephanie Link is long AIG; Joe Terranova is long VRTS; Joe Terranova is long OXY; Joe Terranova is long SBUX; Joe Terranova is long APC; Joe Terranova is long MS; Joe Terranova is long LTD.