Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures Fall Ahead of PMI, Fed Talk

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are signaling a lower start, with stocks set to snap a three-day winning streak as Fed-induced tailwinds begin to wane. Traders are looking toward a handful of speeches by Fed officials, as well as the release of the Markit purchasing managers manufacturing index (PMI) -- though similar manufacturing data out of Europe wasn't very encouraging.

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

• What had this biotech at a 14-year high, and Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) attempting to make a comeback?
• The FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) frenzy following more M&A rumors
• The comments that threw cold water on this drugmaker's buyout hopes.
• Plus... Stocks in Europe struggle, 2 social media giants making noise, and the Yahoo! hacking scandal.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are about 20 points below fair value.

5 Things You Need to Know Today
 

1. European stocks are trading lower after the eurozone PMI came in lower than expected, falling to a two-year low.
2. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 829,701 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 476,707 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.57, while the 21-day moving average rose to 0.64.
3. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is down 2.1% in electronic trading, after The Wall Street Journal said the social media stock has been inflating its video-viewing time metric by as much as 80% for over two years. FB -- which hit a record-high earlier this month -- has yet to comment. 
4. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is up 16% ahead of the bell -- likely to the delight of recent option buyers -- after CNBC said the firm could soon receive a formal bid from a tech company, most likely Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) or salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM). TWTR was lower earlier, after a downgrade to "underperform" from "sector perform" and a $3 price-target cut to $14 by RBC.
5. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is set to open 1.7% lower, after the company confirmed that hundreds of millions of users may have had their data compromised in a security breach. YHOO said the 2014 hack was likely a state-sponsored theft, and cryptologists are calling it the biggest known breach to date.

Earnings and Economic Data

The Fed will remain in the spotlight with a trio of regional Fed presidents addressing a panel in Philadelphia: Atlanta's Dennis Lockhart, Cleveland's Loretta Mester, and Philadelphia's Patrick Harker. On the earnings docket is Finish Line (FINL). To see what is coming up on next week's schedule, click here.