Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are pointed higher this morning. President Barack Obama is taking his fiscal-cliff agenda north, travelling to Pennsylvania with hopes of rallying public support for his plan. Meanwhile, Wall Street will have a number of domestic economic reports to digest, with consumer spending and the Chicago purchasing managers index (PMI) on the day's docket.

Elsewhere, "Despite a big rally over the past two weeks, the National Association of Active Investment Managers (NAAIM) sentiment number dropped substantially to 55.19 from 64.20," said Schaeffer's Senior Trading Analyst Bryan Sapp. "This is the lowest reading since June 27. It shows continued skepticism, and leaves the potential for upside surprises on the table. A likely candidate for this 'surprise' would be some sort of fiscal-cliff resolution. It seems a lot of gloom and doom has already been priced in."

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Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are more than 32 points above fair value.

Market Statistics

Equity option activity on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 866,352 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 538,160 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call ratio improved to 0.62, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.69.

From the Trading Floor

"We finally broke through 1,410 on the S&P 500 Index (SPX)," continued Sapp. "Overhead, the 1,420-1,425 area should be a battleground for the bulls and the bears. Meanwhile, we're looking at 1,385 and 1,400 as support below."

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index is 0.09% lower ahead of the bell, with the greenback trading at $80.13.
• Crude oil is eyeing its first monthly gain since August, with the front-month contract up 0.1% at $88.19 per barrel.
• Gold futures are looking to extend Thursday's rise, with the commodity 0.2% higher in pre-market trading to hover near $1,732.20 an ounce.

Earnings and Economic Data

While there are no major quarterly reports slated for today, the week winds down with personal income and spending data, as well as the Chicago PMI.