Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures Slide as Oil Extends Decline

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are moving lower ahead of the open, as traders eye a continued slump in oil prices, and the start of the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) two-day policy meeting. Investors are also digesting a mixed bag of earnings from blue chips DuPont (NYSE:DD), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), and looking ahead to post-close numbers from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- which is reversing a portion of Monday's steep losses in pre-market trading.

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

• Schaeffer's Senior VP of Research Todd Salamone offers advice on how to protect yourself from a potential November pullback. 
• Ahead of tonight's earnings, AAPL was hit with an unusually unenthusiastic analyst note. 
• One blue chip jumped on a new partnership, but a $5 billion acquisition did little to help this energy giant.

And now, on to the numbers…

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are roughly 56 points below fair value.

 5 Things You Need to Know Today

 

1. Traders in Europe are reacting negatively to economic growth data out of the U.K., while stocks in Asia wobbled as oil prices extended their slide.
2. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 897,008 call contracts traded on Monday, compared to 643,928 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio jumped to 0.72, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.73. 
3. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is pointed 8.2% higher pre-market, after the Internet retailer topped Wall Street's quarterly profit and revenue estimates. This news is sure to be well-received by a recent group of short-term bulls, who were looking for BABA to topple the round $80 level by week's end.
4. While Apple Pay attempts to expand internationally, the payment platform will soon have a new competitor stateside, courtesy of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM). The financial giant plans to leverage its smartphone app, Chase Pay, to give consumers one more way to make purchases without the use of cash or credit cards.
5. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is off 3.1% ahead of the bell, after the automaker's quarterly profit came up just shy of the consensus estimate. This downturn represents a dramatic change of pace for the stock, which has rallied 15.5% month-to-date -- capturing the attention of bullish bettors in the process.

Earnings and Economic Data

 

Durable goods orders are already out, while the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index and the Conference Board's consumer confidence numbers are on tap. AK Steel (AKS), Akamai Technology (AKAM), BP (BP), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Coach (COH), Comcast (CMCSA), Corning (GLW), Gilead Sciences (GILD), GrubHub (GRUB), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Panera Bread (PNRA), Peabody Energy (BTU), Spirit Airlines (SAVE), Twitter (TWTR), and UPS (UPS) will report earnings. To see what else is on this week's docket, click here.