Dow Jones Industrial Average Win Streak On Shaky Ground as Futures Fall

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's (DJIA) historic streak of record highs could be coming to an end, with futures trading well below fair value. Weakness in oil prices is weighing on stocks ahead of the bell, with April-dated crude futures down 1% at $53.90 per barrel, after touching their highest point since July 2015 yesterday. Meanwhile, investors will digest the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey shortly after the open, along with new home sales. Still, even if the pre-market losses come to fruition, the Dow appears well on its way to a third straight weekly win. 

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• Why it's a great time to buy Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) options. 
• The silver stock that just flashed a "buy" signal. 
• 3 energy stocks that made huge moves yesterday. 
• Plus, J C Penney is closing stores, NVIDIA down again, and Foot Locker beats. 

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are more than 68 points below fair value. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today
  

1. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 911,460 call contracts traded on Thursday compared to 567,903 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio edged up to 0.62, while the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.65.
2. Retailer J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE:JCP) is down more than 2% in electronic trading, after the company announced a bigger-than-anticipated drop in same-store sales and said it'd be closing 130-140 stores -- about 13% to 14% of its store count -- in the months ahead. It's been a rough few months for the shares, which were trading in double-digit territory as recently as December, but closed Thursday at $6.86. Despite the weakness, JCP options traders were betting on a post-earnings pop. 
3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is also down more than 2% ahead of the open, after the semiconductor stock dropped almost 10% on Thursday on a pair of downgrades. What may be troubling for shareholders is that the pre-market move puts NVDA below the $99 level, which containted the stock's last two pullbacks. 
4. One stock set to rise this morning is shoe retailer Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL), as the stock looks to resume its long-term uptrend after a pullback at the end of 2016. The company topped the Street's fourth-quarter earnings estimates, and is set to open 3% higher. 

5. There's much in store for traders next week, including the preliminary release of fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and a speech from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. 

Overseas Trading

Asian markets finished the session mostly lower, as traders digested Thursday's comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.5% for its third straight close in the red, as a stronger yen once again weighed on exporters. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi gave back 0.6% apiece. Shares of Samsung Electronics were in focus, dropping 3.7% after the Korean company announced financial transparency measures following a corruption scandal, while two executives reportedly offered to resign. China's Shanghai Composite managed to buck the downbeat trend, but added less than 0.1% for the day.

Stocks in Europe are deep in the red at midday, with a round of disappointing earnings reports from big names such as German chemical company BASF and financial interest Royal Bank of Scotland driving major indexes lower. France's CAC 40 is off 1.5%, despite data from the INSEE statistics agency showing a nine-year high in consumer confidence for the second consecutive month. London's FTSE 100 was last seen 0.8% lower, while Germany's DAX has shed 1.7%.

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