Dow Jones Industrial Average Battles Earnings Season Blues

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is poised to extend its downward momentum following yesterday's earnings-induced hit, with futures pointed lower ahead of the bell. Quarterly reports are again in focus today, with traders digesting an earnings beat from blue chip McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) -- along with freshly slashed forecasts from fellow Dow components 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT). Elsewhere, weekly jobless claims plummeted to their lowest level in over 40 years, while the Greek parliament approved a bailout reform package after a heated debate.

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

• What "cheap" gold could mean for the S&P 500 Index (SPX).
• Lackluster quarterly results pushed these 2 stocks into negative year-to-date territory.
• High-flying Ambarella Inc (NASDAQ:AMBA) surged on bullish brokerage attention.

And now, on to the numbers…

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are roughly 2 points below fair value.

Market Statistics

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.04 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 638,721 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio dropped to 0.61, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.68.

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index has retreated 0.6% to 97.00.
• Crude oil is attempting to recover from Wednesday's slide, up 0.1% at $49.23 per barrel.
• Gold has advanced 0.8% to $1,100.20 per ounce.

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Earnings and Economic Data

Weekly jobless claims and the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators are on tap today. Visa (V), Amazon.com (AMZN), General Motors (GM), Under Armour (UA), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Pandora Media (P), AT&T (T), Alaska Air (ALK), Boston Scientific (BSX), Boyd Gaming (BYD), Celgene (CELG), Comcast (CMCSA), Credit Suisse (CS), Cypress Semiconductor (CY), Dow Chemical (DOW), Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), Dunkin Brands (DNKN), Eli Lilly (LLY), E*TRADE Financial (ETFC), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), LogMeIn (LOGM), PulteGroup (PHM), Raytheon (RTN), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Starbucks (SBUX), Southwest Airlines (LUV), TripAdvisor (TRIP), Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX), and Weatherford (WFT) are scheduled to report earnings. To see what else is on this week's agenda, click here.

Overseas Trading

For a breakdown of today's trading in Asia and Europe, including upbeat import and export data out of Japan, read Overseas Trading: Chinese Stocks Take Off; Greece Passes Reforms.

Unusual Put and Call Activity