Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures Point to New High

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are trading higher, pointing to another day of record highs for the blue-chip index. Pre-market upside also has the S&P 500 Index (SPX) edging toward a new all-time peak. The early bullish bias comes ahead of a busy week of earnings, with streaming giant Netflix due to report after the close. NFLX stock is signaling a positive session ahead of the event -- helping to boost futures on the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), and potentially putting the tech-heavy index on track for a seventh straight win.

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

• 2 red-hot stocks that could have short sellers sweating.
• How options traders are playing this bank ETF ahead of earnings.
• Twitter stock is higher in electronic trading after Friday's historic session.
• Plus, healthcare stocks in focus; Peltz launches a proxy fight against P&G; and another bank stock down after earnings.

5 Things You Need to Know Today
  

1. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 976,652 call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 520,244 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.53, and the 21-day moving average dropped to 0.63.
2. Healthcare stocks could be in focus today, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said legislators will "defer consideration" on Republicans' Obamacare replacement effort until Senator John McCain returns from medical leave.
3. Nelson Peltz is looking to gain a seat on the board of Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG). Peltz's Trian Fund Management owns a roughly $3.5 billion stake in PG, which was disclosed via a regulatory filing earlier this year. PG stock is up 0.6% in electronic trading
4. Financial sector earnings continue to disappoint, with shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) down 2.8% in pre-market trading, after hitting a record high of $442.84 on Friday. The investment firm reported adjusted earnings of $5.22 per share on $2.97 billion in revenue, falling short of estimates for earnings of $5.40 per share on $3.02 billion in revenue.
5. The Empire State manufacturing survey is out this morning, plummeting to 9.8 from June's two-year high of 19.8. Earnings will heat up after the close.

Overseas Trading

Stocks in China stumbled today, despite a stronger-than-forecast 6.9% rise in second-quarter GDP. Traders were rattled by Beijing's formation of a new State Council Financial Stability and Development Commission, which is expected to ramp up regulation on the banking sector. The Shanghai Composite closed down 1.4%, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.3% and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.4%. The Japanese stock market is closed in observance of Marine Day.

European markets are mixed at midday. Miners and other commodity stocks are catching a lift from China's solid GDP number, but traders are keeping a cautious eye on the Brexit talks taking place in Brussels. At last check, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.6%, the French CAC 40 has climbed 0.2%, and Germany's DAX is down 0.2%.