Oil slide could fuel stocks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were poised for early gains Tuesday as much lower oil prices and even more merger-and-acquisition news could boost positive momentum.

At 8:15 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were higher, indicating a positive start for stocks.

Light sweet crude oil tumbled $1.95 to $54.14 a barrel in electronic trading, having rebounded from $53.88, its lowest level since June 2005.

Tony Dwyer, equity market strategist at FTN Midwest Research, called lower oil prices a "positive" for Tuesday's session.

"Its going to continue to help the feeling that the Fed will stay on the sidelines," he said.

The consensus among most market observers is that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates untouched once more at its Jan. 30-31 policy meeting.

In corporate news, Sprint Nextel (Charts) said Monday it will cut 5,000 jobs and forecast flat to slightly higher revenues in 2007.

Grocer-store operator Supervalu (Charts) posted a higher quarterly net profit, thanks in part to its purchase of Albertsons stores.

AT&T's (Charts) mobile phone unit, Cingular Wireless, may provide a service for an Apple Computer (Charts) phone, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. (Full story.)

In his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, Walt Disney (Charts) Chief Executive Bob Iger said the company would launch more online multiplayer games.

And Sirius Satellite Radio (Charts) said it paid Howard Stern a stock bonus valued at nearly $83 million after its subscriber numbers exceeded early estimates.

On the M&A front, General Electric (Charts) may be interested in a sale of its plastics business, which is valued at up to $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

And shares of Gap (Charts) surged nearly 10 percent Monday after a news report said the company had hired Goldman Sachs to help it explore strategic alternatives, including sale of the company.

Up ahead, Alcoa (Charts) is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell. The aluminum maker will be the first Dow Jones industrial average component to report results for the period ended Dec. 31.

With little economic news ahead during the session, Treasury prices slipped, with the yield on the 10-year note rising to 4.66 percent from 4.65 percent late Monday.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro but was higher versus the yen.

Stocks ended higher in Asia and European shares rose in midday trade.

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