The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is attempting to recover from yesterday's post-election swoon, with the blue-chip barometer trading moderately higher ahead of the bell. "Markets did an about-face yesterday, as heavy selling crushed major indices by more than 2%," pointed out Schaeffer's Senior Options Strategist Tony Venosa. "The looming 'fiscal cliff' and euro-zone economic issues have been brought to the forefront."

• Placing pre-earnings bets on Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Molycorp (NYSE:MCP).
• Why Wednesday's post-election sell-off could signal short-term caution .
• Will this level save the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)?

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are about 28 points above fair value.

Market Statistics

Equity option activity on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 966,873 call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 733,987 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call ratio rose to 0.76, while the 21-day moving average jumped to 0.71.

From the Trading Floor

"Keep an eye on the $140 level as possible support for the SPY, with peak put open interest residing at this strike," continued Venosa. "If this doesn't hold, look for a quick drop down to the next major put strike, which is located at 138."

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index is paring some of yesterday's losses, up 0.1% at 80.84.
• Likewise, crude oil is bouncing back from four-month lows. At last check, the commodity was up 1.3% to trade at $85.52 per barrel.
• Elsewhere, gold futures are modestly higher, with December-dated gold up 0.3% to trade at $1,718.80 an ounce.

Earnings and Economic Data

Today's economic calendar brings us the latest weekly jobless claims, as well as the trade balance for September, Meanwhile, the earnings docket features reports from Walt Disney (DIS), Groupon (GRPN), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), Dean Foods (DF), Duke Energy (DUK), FirstEnergy (FE), Kohl's (KSS), Molycorp (MCP), Monster Worldwide (MWW), Nordstrom (JWN), NVIDIA (NVDA), Savient Pharmaceuticals (SVNT), Sequenom (SQNM), Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD), and Zipcar (ZIP).