Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are modestly higher ahead of the bell. Investors appear cautiously optimistic that U.S. policymakers will begin to break ground on fiscal-cliff negotiations, after it was reported Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, may be ready to deal.

Elsewhere, "Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in a very intriguing situation, technically," said Schaeffer's Senior Equity Analyst Joe Bell. "Although the $520 level recently held as support, the stock gapped back below it on Friday, and dragged the entire tech sector down with it. The shares are currently trading at their November low, and it will be interesting to see how the stock reacts today coming back from the weekend."

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Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are 39 points above fair value.

Market Statistics

Equity option activity on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 804,531 call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 562,311 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call ratio jumped to 0.70, while the 21-day moving average dropped to 0.63.

From the Trading Floor

"One thing that's caught my eye is total short interest on the S&P 500 Index (SPX)," continued Bell. "Short sellers increased their bearish bets to the highest level since June 2012, which was a very good buying opportunity."

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index is up 0.04% ahead of the bell to trade at $79.61.
• Crude oil is pulling back from last week's gains, with the front-month contract down 0.1% at $87.16 per barrel.
• Gold futures are lower, as well, with the commodity last seen down 0.2% at $1,693.60 an ounce.

Earnings and Economic Data

There are no major earnings reports scheduled for today, but Wall Street will contemplate the Empire State manufacturing index and October's Treasury International Capital data for October.