NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks could get a lift Friday from strong news about several Dow components.

U.S. stock futures were higher, suggesting a solid open for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Conglomerate General Electric (Research) delivered a variety of good news to its investors, including raising its 2006 earnings guidance, its dividend and its share buyback plans as well as the sale of its reinsurance unit for $6.8 billion plus debt. Shares of GE gained about 2 percent in pre-market trading on Inet early Friday.

Computer and peripheral maker Hewlett-Packard (Research) also saw its shares up more than 4 percent on Inet after it reported strong revenue and earnings excluding special items that both beat forecasts.

But the news was not as good from Walt Disney Co. (Research) as the media conglomerate shares fell 3 percent on Inet on disappointing results from its studio unit.

Oil prices were mixed in early trading as colder weather swept into the Northeast. The December light crude futures contract for NYMEX lost 11 cents to $56.23 a barrel in electronic trading, while the January contract for Brent crude gained 32 cents to $55.17.

Major markets in Asia closed higher Friday, with Japan's Nikkei closing at a nearly five-year high. Major European markets were all more than 1 percent higher in early trading.

Treasury prices were lower, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.48 percent from the 4.46 percent level late Friday. The dollar gained ground against the euro and the yen.

In other corporate news, Internet connectivity leader Cisco Systems (Research) agreed to buy cable TV box maker Scientific-Atlanta (Research) in a deal worth $6.9 billion. While the deal provided only a 4 percent premium for Scientific-Atlanta shareholders, the company's stock had already gained nearly 19 percent since a report in early November that it was up for sale.

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