Dow Futures Languish Below Breakeven

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are floating just below breakeven this morning ,amid news that coronavirus outbreak has made its way to the U.S., with cases rising sharply over the weekend. This follows an extremely volatile overnight session in which the blue chip index lost over 1,000 points. Meanwhile, Wall Street is looking ahead to the Markit manufacturing PMI and the ISM manufacturing index, both of which will be released later this morning. 

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

• Unpacking Wall Street's worst week since the financial crisis. 
• What you need to know about historical volatility.
• Plus, GE gets an upgrade; GILD stock climbs higher on $4.9 billion deal; and Paul Singer eyes Twitter CEO role. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.3 million call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 1.11 million put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio moved to 0.85, and the 21-day moving average was 0.59.
2. General Electric (NYSE:GE) is climbing higher in electronic trading after J.P. Morgan Securities, which has been bearish on the security in the long term, upped its rating to "neutral" from "underweight." The analyst said GE's floor on free cash flow came in higher than expected. In pre-market trading, General Electric stock is up 1.1%. 
3. Drug stock Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is up 0.5% in early market trading after agreeing to buy cancer drug developer Forty Seven (FTSV) in a $4.9 billion cash deal, equating to $95.50 per share, which is roughly a 64% premium to its Friday close. FTSV, meanwhile, is up a whopping 61.8% this morning. 
4. A Friday evening report that Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management, is looking to take over Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey's role has shares of the stock surging. In pre-market trading, the social media stock is up 6.9%. 
5. Investors will digest data on construction spending. For earnings, reports from Maxar Technologies (MAXR) and Tilray (TLRY) are on tap.

Asian Markets Brush Off Disappointing Economic Data

Markets in Asia rallied today despite lackluster economic data out of China. China's Shanghai Composite climbed 3.2%, despite factory activity falling to a record low in February. China's February Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell short of expectations  as well. Japan's Nikkei finished 1% higher, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8%. Rounding out the region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tacked on 0.6%.

Over in Europe, stocks are a mixed bag at midday, as investors look to central banks in the hope of stimulus measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak's impact on global economies. London's FTSE 100 is up 0.2%, with post-Brexit talks between the U.K. and European Union set to begin today. The French CAC 40 and German DAX are down 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.