The Dow Waits for Direction from Fed, Greece Update

After eking out a win on Tuesday -- and finishing a second straight day north of 18,000 -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:DJI) is poised for a breather this morning. However, there are plenty of market-moving events on the day's docket, including Greece's formal submission for a loan extension and the minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Also slated for release today are reports on housing starts, inflation, and industrial production.

• Is the Dow's retest of 18,000 a good thing for markets going forward? Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White crunches the numbers.
• How sentiment is stacked up on these two notable names headed to the earnings confessional tonight.
• In case you missed it, Schaeffer's Senior VP of Research Todd Salamone explains why mid-cap stocks could see an early summer breakout.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average 2 Minute (INDEXDJX:.DJI) are about 20 points below fair value.

Market Statistics

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, compared to 586,234 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.58, while the 21-day moving average fell to 0.65.

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index is up 0.2% at 94.28.
• Crude oil is poised to snap its recent winning streak, down 1.9% at $53.25 per barrel.
• Gold, meanwhile, is off 0.2% at $1,205.90 per ounce.

Earnings and Economic Data

Housing starts, industrial production data, January's producer price index (PPI) and core PPI, and the FOMC's meeting minutes come out today. Actavis (ACT), Angie's List (ANGI), Avis Budget (CAR), Barrick Gold (ABX), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX), Denny's (DENN), Fluor (FLR), Garmin (GRMN), Hecla Mining (HL), Huntsman (HUN), Intrepid Potash (IPI), Key Energy Services (KEG), Marathon Oil (MRO), Marriott (MAR), Pharmacyclics (PCYC), SolarCity (SCTY), SunEdison (SUNE), Sunoco (SUN), Virgin America (VA), Williams Companies (WMB), and Yandex N.V. (YNDX) will report earnings. To see what's coming up on this week's agenda, click here.

Overseas Trading

A record-setting day on Wall Street translated into gains for Asian benchmarks. Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.2%, amid a cooling yen and news the Bank of Japan stood pat on its current monetary policy, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng tacked on 0.2%. Markets in Shanghai and South Korea were shuttered for the Lunar New Year.

European markets are mostly higher at midday, thanks to a round of well-received earnings reports. Meanwhile, traders are keeping a cautious eye trained on Greece, which will submit a loan-extension request later today. At last check, the French CAC 40 is up 0.9%, while the German DAX is enjoying a 0.5% lead. Elsewhere, London's FTSE 100 is fractionally lower, despite a drop in the country's unemployment rate.

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