NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Investors appear likely to shrug off Verizon Communications' agreement to buy long distance provider MCI when the stock markets open Friday.

U.S. stock futures were little changed, indicating a flat opening for stocks.

Verizon (Research) will pay $6.75 billion in cash and stock that represents essentially no premium for MCI (Research) shareholders. The deal was announced early Monday, beating out a bid reported to be $7.3 billion in stock and cash offer from Qwest (Research).

Major markets in Asia closed higher after being closed for holidays at the end of last week. Major European markets were mixed in early trading.

Both General Motors (Research) and Fiat were higher in European trading after GM agreed to pay Fiat nearly $2 billion get out of an agreement that could have forced the world's largest automaker to buy the Italian money-losing auto operations.

U.S. stocks start trading Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average higher for the year after a rally Friday.

Oil prices were higher. The March light crude contract gained 21 cents to $47.37 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude rose 28 cents to $45.56.

Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 4.11 percent from 4.08 percent late Friday. The dollar fell against the yen and euro.

In corporate news, investors will be keeping an eye on shares of Internet search engine Google (Research) Monday, as a lock-up period ends for 176 million shares held by insiders, or about 65 percent of the shares outstanding. Shares have more than doubled since the August initial public offering and if insiders try to cash out shares it could create a flood of shares on the market, driving down the price.

Fast food leader McDonald's (Research) agreed to pay$8.5 million to settle a lawsuit over trans fats in its cooking oils. Trans fats have been linked to blocked arteries and heart problems.

The hostile bid by Blockbuster (Research) to acquire Hollywood Entertainment (Research) is facing increasing opposition from antitrust enforcers, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Separately, Movie Gallery (Research) said the government won't challenge a lower-priced, friendly offer for Hollywood.