Following four days of broad-market bloodshed, bulls are determined to put their stamp on the final day of this week's trading. With futures pointed north, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) are bracing for a battle with their respective round-number 12,500 and 1,300 marks.

• How the lack of SPX stocks above their 10-day moving averages could signal a bullish bounce.
• See what rare occurrence recently flashed on the Investor's Intelligence Short-Term Composite Indicator.
• Why the recent sell-off is a bit extraordinary.

Among equities in focus, Facebook's (FB) share offering makes history; short sellers could continue to jump ship following Salesforce.com's (CRM) quarterly results; and short-term calls were the options du jour on Applied Materials (AMAT) ahead of earnings.

And now, on to the numbers...

Market Statistics

Equity option activity on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1,259,094 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 1,120,784 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call ratio arrived at 0.89, while the 21-day moving average was 0.75.

From the Trading Floor

In today's session, Schaeffer's Equities Analyst Bryan Sapp will be keeping his eye on the "the 75-76 level on the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM). This is a key support/resistance area for the index."

Sapp also pointed out that, "The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) sentiment report came out yesterday, and the bullish percentage was the lowest seen since Aug. 26, 2010, while the bearish percentage was the highest seen since Sept. 29, 2011. The neutral-plus-bear figure is at its highest level since Aug. 26, 2010."

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index is up 0.2% heading into the session, with the greenback checking in at $81.51.
• After clocking its fifth consecutive loss yesterday, crude oil is hovering near breakeven this morning, with the front-month contract last seen at $92.96 per barrel.
• Gold futures continue to tack on gains, with the malleable metal up 0.9% at $1,589.30 an ounce.

In equities news, social networking giant Facebook, Inc. (FB) finalized its initial public offering (IPO) at $38 per share after last night's close, which is expected to garner the company roughly $16 billion. The price landed at the high end of the previously forecast $34-$38 range – making it the biggest Internet IPO, and the second-biggest U.S. IPO to be launched. FB will now have a market capitalization of approximately $104 billion, placing it behind only 21 other companies in the SPX. The stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) around 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

In earnings news, Salesforce.com (CRM - 133.80) swung to a first-quarter loss of $19.5 million, or 14 cents per share, as a 40% surge in operating expenses offset a 38% jump in revenue to $695.5 million. On an adjusted basis, CRM earned 37 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected the cloud-computing specialist to earn just 34 cents per share on revenue of $678.2 million. Short interest backpedaled by 4.3% in the latest reporting period, but still accounts for a hefty 9.9% of the stock's available float. CRM is looking at a 6.2% pop right out of the gate.

Applied Materials (AMAT - 10.48) said its fiscal second-quarter profit declined 41% to $289 million, or 22 cents per share, as revenue fell 11% to $2.54 billion. Excluding items, AMAT earned 27 cents per share. The results surpassed consensus expectations, as analysts were looking for a profit of 24 cents per share on $2.40 billion in revenue. AMAT is down 0.7% ahead of the bell.

Earnings and Economic Data

There are no major economic reports slated for today. Foot Locker (FL), ANN Inc. (ANN), and Kirkland's (KIRK) will wrap up the week's slate of quarterly earnings.