NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks opened higher Monday morning as oil treaded water, Northwest weathered a strike, and foreign markets rose on a flurry of mergers and acquisitions.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 27.62 to 10,586.85, Charts), the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 4.82 to 1,224.53, Charts) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (up 9.78 to 2,145.34, Charts) all gained 0.5 percent at the start of the trading day.

Markets were hammered last week by high oil prices and downbeat earnings news in the retail sector.

But oil prices stabilized Monday just above $65 in early morning trading, with the September light crude futures contract for NYMEX gaining 32 cents to $65.67 a barrel in electronic trading. (Full story.)

In corporate news, Wall Street could be taking heart in the struggle between Northwest Airlines and its 4,200 mechanics who have entered their third day of a strike that has had little impact on the company. (Full story.) With the absence of sympathy strikes by other organized workers, the battle has been considered a victory for the airline and a blow to labor.

Major markets in Asia closed higher Monday, as foreign investors poured money into Tokyo stocks on signs of a turnaround in Japan's banking sector.

Moreover, there was news that China National Petroleum bought Canada's PetroKazakhstan (up $8.90 to $54.30, Research) for about $4.2 billion, China's largest foreign acquisition.

And major European markets were mostly higher in early trading as SBS Broadcasting agreed to be bought for $2.6 billion by private equity firms Permira and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Germany's TUI AG also announced that it will buy CP Ships Ltd. (unchanged at $19.60, Research), a container-shipping business with operations in Canada, for $2 billion. The deal will create the world's fifth-largest container shipping company.

No economic reports were due Monday.

Treasury prices were lower, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.23 percent from the 4.21 percent level late Friday. The dollar lost ground against the euro and the yen.

Comex gold gained $2.30 to $444.50.