Stock index futures sank slightly after China reported the lowest GDP annual rate since the financial crisis.
China's third-quarter GDP rose 6.9%, just ahead of the consensus estimate of 6.8%.
China's weakness could raise pressure on its policymakers to roll out more interest-rate cuts and other support measures to avert a sharper slowdown, Reuters reported.
Over the weekend, Deutsche Bank AG (DB) said it is restructuring its business, splitting its investment bank in two as the bank works to keep up with its competitors.
Diebold (DBD) said it offered about 1.57 billion euros to acquire Wincor Nixdorf AG (WNXDY), which could create a manufacturer of cash machines and security systems with more than $5 billion in sales. The proposed offer of 52.50 euros per share in cash and stock is a 35% premium.
Looking ahead, on Monday, we'll be watching earnings reports from Halliburton (HAL) for details on the Baker Hughes (BHI) merger and looking to Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) for a response to the federal investigation of its drug pricing among other matters. IBM (IBM) reports and we need to see how well the company's cloud business is replacing its declining legacy services.
On Tuesday United Technologies (UTX) reports and that should give us a good read on China. Then we'll look to Verizon (VZ) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), two stocks that TheStreet's Jim Cramer recommends buying.
Wednesday brings earnings from Trifecta Stocks holding Boeing (BA), which is still a wait-and-see stock, Cramer says. General Motors (GM) also reports and Cramer says he's no longer constructive on the stock. Cramer likes Kimberly-Clark (KMB), and if you like Kinder Morgan (KMI), you might like Action Alerts PLUS' Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) even more, Cramer says. ETP's dividend yield is almost 9% compared with KMI's 6%.
For Thursday, Cramer highlighted 3M (MMM), another stock he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, along with Caterpillar (CAT), Eli Lilly (LLY), McDonald's (MCD), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT).
On Friday, American Airlines (AAL), Procter & Gamble (PG) and VF Corp (VFC) report. Of those, Cramer is only inclined to VFC.
Barron's cover story shared the findings of the publication's latest Big Money poll, a biannual survey of professional investors. The pros expect stocks to rise by as much as 7% through the middle of 2016, propelled by a growing economy and gains in corporate profit, Barron's said.
And for some stock picks, Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) is the best turnaround story in banking with sizeable assets and it is clearing regulatory and tech hurdles, Barron's said. The stock could jump 25%.
Also, investors could monetize the surge in mobile data usage through the wireless tower companies, which trade at a discount to REITs, with faster growth and 20% upside in 18 months, Barron's noted. The tower companies rent antenna space to the carriers, an essential service dominated by three companies: American Tower (AMT), Crown Castle International (CCI) and SBA Communications (SBAC).
