Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures Falter on Pre-Fed Anxiety

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) looks set to open lower ahead of what will be a busy week on Wall Street. Many traders are surely looking ahead to the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) two-day meeting and subsequent monetary policy decision on Wednesday. There are also plenty of other noteworthy events on this week's slate, including earnings from the likes of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Alibaba Holding Group Ltd (NYSE:BABA), as well as an advance reading on third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) due out on Thursday.  

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

• Schaeffer's contributor Adam Warner weighs in on the puzzling performance of high-beta stocks in 2015. 
• Even though it's at four-year highs, this cybersecurity stock could soon get another boost. 
• This tech giant crossed a technical milestone, while this retailer couldn't quite make it past one of its own. 

And now, on to the numbers…

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are sitting 29.7 points below fair value. 

 5 Things You Need to Know Today

 

1. Friday's late-breaking interest rate cut from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) got a mixed reception in Asia today.
2. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.04 million call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 650,879 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio slid to 0.63, while the 21-day moving average edged down to 0.73. 
3. A week later, and not much has changed for Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). Last week, the stock plummeted following a disturbing report from short-seller Citron Research. Now, the shares are down another 8% in electronic trading, after VRX called Citron's allegations of revenue inflation "completely untrue," and called for an SEC investigation into last week's report. 
4. M&A buzz is fueling a 17.4% pre-market rise in Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:CTRP). The Chinese Internet travel firm announced it will merge with sector peer Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (NASDAQ:QUNR). As a result, CTRP shorts are going to be feeling the heat today. 
5. In other M&A news, energy giant Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) is fractionally higher ahead of the bell, as Wall Street weighs in on the firm's freshly announced acquisition of Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc. (NYSE:PNY). Duke Energy Corp said it would buy the sector peer for nearly $5 billion in cash, marking yet another major merger between energy names. 

Earnings and Economic Data

 

Today's lineup features new home sales and the Dallas Fed's manufacturing survey. 2U (TWOU), Broadcom (BRCM), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Hartford Financial (HIG), PMC-Sierra (PMCS), Sohu.com (SOHU), and Xerox (XRX) will all reveal their quarterly results. To see what else is on this week's docket, click here.