NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Some takeover talk and another wave of quarterly reports could lift U.S. stocks at the start of trading Monday.

Early Monday, S&P and Nasdaq futures were higher.

Stocks took it on the chin last week amid jitteriness about earnings and international events. The Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq composite index both lost 1.8 percent, including significant declines Friday (see chart for details). The Dow dipped below the 10,000 mark while the Nasdaq sank to its lowest level since last October.

Asian-Pacific stocks ended mostly lower, with Tokyo's Nikkei index down 0.3 percent. European markets were mixed Monday morning. (Check the latest on world markets)

For details of Friday's fall, click above.

Treasury prices fell in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield up to 4.44 percent from 4.43 percent late Friday. The dollar pulled back from recent highs against the yen and euro. Gold was higher.

Oil prices were mixed. U.S. crude futures edged up 4 cents to $41.75 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent oil futures gained 6 cents to $38.33 a barrel in London.

Among stocks in the news Monday mornings is AT&T (T: Research, Estimates). Newsweek reports that the phone service provider is a takeover target for the buyout firm of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, with some former AT&T employees disgruntled with current management assisting KKR.

Mylan Laboratories (MYL: Research, Estimates) announced Monday it has an agreement to buy rival generic drug maker King Pharmaceuticals (KG: Research, Estimates) in a stock deal valued at $4 billion. King shareholders are to receive 0.9 Mylan share for each of their shares. That's worth $16.66 based on Friday's close, or a premium of 61 percent for King shareholders.

Intel is looking at returning more cash to its shareholders, according to Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant's comments to the Financial Times. Bryant said outside directors were advocating either increasing dividends or accelerating share buyback program. Intel has about $17 billion in cash and investments on its balance sheet.

Earnings reports are due Monday from Dow components International Paper (IP: Research, Estimates) before the market open and American Express (AXP: Research, Estimates), which is due during the trading day.

Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call have a consensus forecast for International Paper's earnings per share to double to 38 cents a share in the quarter. The consensus forecast for American Express is for EPS to rise 14 percent to 67 cents.

The only economic report due Monday is the reading on existing home sales in June, due out at 10 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that the annual sales pace slipped to 6.65 million from 6.8 million in May.