Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures Trade Lower with Earnings, D.C. in Focus

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are trading slightly below fair value this morning, as traders brace for a busy week on Wall Street. Second-quarter earnings season will pick up after the close, but stocks could be held captive by the situation in Washington D.C., where President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is set to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee today and the House Intelligence Committee tomorrow in an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, though Kushner denied any collusion on the part of the Trump campaign in a written testimony.

Also in focus is the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) downwardly revised U.S. economic growth forecasts for this year and next, while existing home sales and Markit's flash composite purchasing managers index (PMI) are due out today. With a lot for traders to digest today, S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures were last seen modestly higher. 
 
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• History suggests this FAANG stock could hit record highs tomorrow.
• Buy the dip on this transportation stock.
• Options traders banked a big profit on Stanley Black & Decker ahead of earnings.
• Plus, 2 big healthcare acquisitions; Blue Apron bounces back; and Halliburton earnings impress.

1. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.2 million call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 660,107 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.56, and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.61.
2. It's been a huge year for Neuroderm Ltd (NASDAQ:NDRM), as shares of the drugmaker have rallied almost 50% year-to-date. Now, NDRM stock is up 16% in pre-market trading on news Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma is buying the company for $1.1 billion, or $39 per share -- a 17.5% premium to Friday's close at $33.20. That's not the only M&A news in the healthcare space, though, as investment firm KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) announced plans to buy health information firm WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD) for about $2.8 billion, or $66.50 per share. WBMD stock is up close to 20% before the open, after closing last Friday at $55.19. 
3. Shares of meal delivery service Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN) will try to bounce from last week's Amazon-induced lows, thanks to bullish analyst attention. Specifically, APRN stock is up more than 8% in electronic trading, after RBC, Canaccord Genuity, and SunTrust Robinson all initiated coverage with "buy" ratings. But Barclays only started the shares with an "equal weight" rating, citing concerns from Amazon's entrance into the meal delivery business. 
4. Oilfield services provider Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) is setting an upbeat tone on the earnings front this morning, with the stock ready to add 2.5% at the open. The move comes thanks to Halliburton's better-than-expected second-quarter earnings report. Still, HAL stock began the year trading near $54, so the shares have more ground to make up. 
5. Earnings are expected from Alphabet (GOOGL), Hasbro (HAS), Philips (PHG), Rambus (RMBS), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), and VF Corp (VF).

Overseas Trading

Strength in the yen against its U.S. counterpart pressured Japan's Nikkei to a 0.6% slide, even as other regional indexes managed to claw higher by the close. Hong Kong resumed its winning ways after Friday marked its first loss in 10 sessions, with the Hang Seng gaining 0.5%. Elsewhere, China's Shanghai Composite closed up 0.4% and South Korea's Kospi elbowed its way to a 0.06% advance.

There's a downside bias in Europe at midday. German automakers are getting hammered amid reports of a collusion investigation by the European Commission, and traders are also responding to a soft reading on eurozone factory activity for July. Specifically, Markit's flash purchasing managers index for the month backpedaled to 55.8 this month from June's reading of 56.3. At last check, London's FTSE 100 is 0.9% lower, the German DAX is off 0.4%, and France's CAC 40 is fractionally higher.