Pushing into uncharted waters

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were poised to make another run at record highs Monday, helped by news of a major telecom deal and the sale of GE's plastics division.

Stock futures rose slightly in early trading, pointing to a higher open for both the blue chip S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

The S&P starts the day only five points away from what would be a record high close, while the Dow Jones industrial averaged ended at yet another record high in Friday trading.

GE (Charts, Fortune 500) says it has sold its plastics division for $11.6 billion to Saudi-owned Sabic.

The buyout unit of Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs (Charts, Fortune 500) and private equity firm TPG Capital announced early Monday they are buying wireless telecom Alltel (Charts, Fortune 500) for $25 billion, or $71.50 a share, a premium of nearly 10 percent from Friday's close. Shares of Alltel are up 9.4 percent in Frankfurt trading early Monday.

Drugmaker and Dow component Pfizer (Charts, Fortune 500) announced that its CFO Alan Levin is leaving after 20 years with the company and John LaMattina, its head of research and development, will retire by year's end. The drug company, which is seeing patents expire for a number of key drugs in coming years, recently cut its earnings guidance. Its shares slipped 0.2 percent in early Frankfurt trading.

Home improvement retailer Lowe's (Charts, Fortune 500) reported earnings of 48 cents a share, missing analyst expectations slightly. The No. 2 retailer in the sector saw No. 1 rival Home Depot (Charts, Fortune 500) report a bigger than forecast drop in earnings last week, along with lowered guidance, following a weak market for home building.

DreamWorks Animation SKG's (Charts) "Shrek the Third" shattered the opening weekend box office record for an animated film, as it sold $122 million in tickets, far above forecasts.

Shares in Asia closed higher after Chinese markets led the way in gains. Meanwhile, stocks in Europe were lower in early trading.

Oil prices were higher in early trading, climbing over the $65 a barrel mark. U.S. light crude gained 8 cents to $64.94 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices fell, putting the yield on the 10-year note at 4.82 percent. The dollar was higher against the euro and the yen.