Oil, Alcoa Pressure Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are trading below fair value, as stocks look ready to take their cues from oil prices once again. Specifically, November-dated crude futures are giving back some of Monday's gains, down 0.6% at $51.07 per barrel, after the International Energy Agency (IEA) questioned how quickly an output reduction among major oil producers would impact markets. Meanwhile, disappointing quarterly results from Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) -- signifying the unofficial start to third-quarter earnings season -- are also sapping trader sentiment, with the aluminum stock down 3.5% in electronic trading. 

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

• Why bulls need to defend this critical SPY price point, according to Schaeffer's Senior VP of Research Todd Salamone.
• What had this little-known medical device stock near the top of the Nasdaq? 
• The brokerage firm calling for a 13% slide from Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). 
• Plus... Samsung woes boost Apple, Caterpillar keeps rolling, and a red-hot biotech stock.  

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are 23 points below fair value. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today
  

1. Global stocks are mixed amid crude oil's decline, while Samsung shares got hammered in Korean trading.
2. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 649,928 call contracts traded on Monday, compared to 397,117 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.61, while the 21-day moving average slipped to 0.64.
3. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to add 2% at the opening bell, thanks to rival Samsung's ongoing issues involving its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. Earlier today, Samsung announced a permanent halt to production and sales of the phone, its main competitor to Apple's iPhone. AAPL had already been outperforming in recent weeks, and now boasts a 10.3% year-to-date lead, after settling at $116.05 on Monday -- its best close of the year. 
4. Fellow Dow stock Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is also gaining in pre-market trading, adding 1% after an upgrade to "buy" at Goldman Sachs, which also boosted its price target to $112 from $76. Of course, this positive momentum for CAT -- which is the best-performing blue chip in 2016 -- isn't entirely surprising, given the stock's bullish contrarian setup. As such, the shares could have more room to run, even after rallying roughly 30% so far this year. 
5.  After gapping higher on Friday in response to an ambitious bull note, biotech stock Lipocine Inc (NASDAQ:LPCN) is set for another big day. Specifically, a price-target hike to $15 from $6 at Canaccord Genuity has the shares 6.3% higher in electronic trading. However, this still leaves LPCN below the $6 mark, which marked its pre-bear gap lows in June. 

Earnings and Economic Data

There are no major economic reports due out today. Barracuda Networks (CUDA) will report earnings. To see what else is coming up on this week's schedule, click here. 

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