Wall St. rested, ready

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks could get off to a good start Tuesday as investors weigh the latest merger reports kicking off a holiday-shortened trading week.

Stock futures were up in early trading, pointing to a higher open after a rush of merger and acquisition news and reports over the last three days.

A group led by Royal Bank of Scotland said Tuesday it is launching a hostile $95.5 billion bid for Dutch banking giant ABN Amro (Charts), an offer that is 10 percent above the agreed-to deal between ABN and British bank Barclays (Charts). The move could block the efforts of Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500) to buy ABN's Chicago-based unit LaSalle Bank.

Tishman Speyer Properties, one of the leading owners and operators of real estate in the world, and New York investment bank Lehman Brothers (Charts, Fortune 500) are close to reaching a deal to buy property owner Archstone-Smith Trust (Charts) in a $20 billion deal, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) is looking at a possible sale of its Swedish car maker Volvo, and German automaker BMW could be a possible buyer, according to published reports over the holiday weekend.

And office telecommunications-equipment maker Avaya (Charts, Fortune 500) is in talks with private-equity and strategic bidders about selling part or all of the company, according to published reports.

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (Charts) has hired Deutsche Bank to advise it on a possible bid for Canadian aluminum producer Alcan (Charts), which is trying to hold off a hostile bid from U.S. rival Alcoa (Charts, Fortune 500), according to a published report Monday in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Federal Trade Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into the proposed $3.1 billion purchase by Google (Charts, Fortune 500) of online advertising firm DoubleClick, which is owned by a private equity firm.

Dubai International Financial Centre, the owner of the Dubai stock exchange, is mulling a rival bid to Nasdaq Stock Market's agreed $3.7 billion takeover of Nordic markets owner OMX, the Sunday Times reported

The only economic report due Tuesday is the latest consumer confidence survey from the Conference Board. Economists contacted by Briefing.com forecast that the research firm's consumer confidence index for May edged up to 104.5 from 104.0, after a 4.2-point drop in April.

The week has a number of key economic reports, including the latest reading on the gross domestic product on Thursday and the May employment report on Friday.

Oil prices fell sharply in early trading Tuesday, as a strike in Nigeria ended. U.S. light crude dropped 81 to $64.39 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices were lower, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.87 percent from the 4.86 percent level reached late Friday. The dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

Stocks in Asia closed mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei closing up about 85 points. Stocks in Europe were mixed in early trading there.