Cisco Pressures Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures; Win Streak in Jeopardy

After Thursday's heavy losses, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are taking another step back pre-market -- all but guaranteeing the benchmark will snap its weekly winning streak. Weighing on the Dow is blue chip Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), which is down more than 4% ahead of the bell on lackluster guidance. Meanwhile, it could be another rough session for retail stocks, as traders consider a smaller-than-expected rise in October retail sales and post-earnings plunges for a pair of major department store names.

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

• Is the sun starting to set on this struggling solar stock?
• Why these 4 biotechs made monster moves.
• 25 stocks that could get slashed this Friday the 13th.

And now, on to the numbers…

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are roughly 38 points below fair value.

 5 Things You Need to Know Today

 

1. A sell-off in commodities is weighing on markets around the world, exacerbated in Europe by disappointing gross domestic product (GDP) data.
2. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 936,647 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 775,492 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio jumped to 0.83, while the 21-day moving average edged up to 0.69. 
3. J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE:JCP) is bracing for a nearly 4% drop at the open after a poorly received third-quarter earnings report, to the delight of short sellers. Similarly, upscale peer Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) is poised to plummet 21% out of the gate due to an earnings miss and a downwardly revised full-year forecast, which prompted a rash of price-target cuts.
4. Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) is pointed 6.6% higher ahead of the bell, after the chemical company rejected a $42 billion buyout bid from China National Chemical Corp, Bloomberg reports. This news comes just a few months after Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) abandoned hopes of taking over SYT.
5. Daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel are not the only ones with dimming initial public offering (IPO) prospects. Online mortgage lender LoanDepot has reportedly decided to delay its IPO indefinitely due to unfavorable market conditions.

Earnings and Economic Data

 

Today's economic calendar features the release of business inventories, the producer price index (PPI), and the mid-month Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. Plus, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will deliver a speech on monetary policy. A quarterly report from Tyco International (TYC) will wrap up the earnings week. To see what's coming up on next week's schedule, click here.