Stocks look to rebound

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Investors appeared ready Tuesday to shrug off the recent wave of credit worries and oil once again near record highs, as stocks were poised to open higher.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were higher.

Oil prices climbed $1.81 a barrel in early electronic trading, taking the price up for the December futures up to $95.79, putting it within reach of the intraday record high of $96.24 hit Thursday.

But John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia, said equity markets believe oil is being driven up by a risk premium due to geopolitical problems, including the constitutional crisis in Pakistan, more than by fundamentals. And he said after Citigroup's (Charts, Fortune 500) announcement Sunday of a possible $11 billion in addition writedowns, the lack of more bad news overnight is cheering investors.

"It's a relief rally, because nothing has gone wrong today," said Silvia. "That's the words we're hearing - relief rally."

In corporate news, Sun Microsystems (Charts, Fortune 500) returned to a profit that matched Wall Street forecasts, but revenue fell a bit short of estimates. That sent shares down 3.2 percent in after-hours trading following the report.

Mesa Air Group (Charts) fired Chief Financial Officer Peter Murnane as the airline said he had deleted evidence of misuse of proprietary information from his computer that was at the center of a lawsuit by Hawaiian Airlines. The conclusion of the probe helped to lift shares of Mesa 1.5 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement.

A judge set a July trial date in the dispute between student loan lender SLM Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500) and the group of investors that are trying to get out of a $25 billion buyout of the firm agreed to earlier this year. SLM, better known as Sallie Mae, is pressing to have the group complete the deal or pay a $900 million break-up fee.

Officials from union locals representing hourly workers at Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) voted unanimously in favor of the tentative labor deal reached early Saturday morning, giving a boost to the ratification vote by rank and file at the company. The deal stops further plant closings beyond those already identified during the four-year life of the agreement.

Shares of Ford slipped slightly in after-hours trading.

CNET.com reported that Stan Glasgow, president and chief operating officer of the Sony Electronics unit of Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony (Charts), told reporters in San Francisco that the company is expecting a very strong holiday shopping season, given orders it has received so far.

But shares of Sony fell 1.8 percent in Tokyo trading Tuesday in a selloff among Japanese exporters on concerns over the U.S. economy.

Markets in Asia closed mixed Tuesday, while major indexes in Europe rebounded. The dollar hit yet another record low versus the euro but edged higher versus the yen.

Stocks ended lower Monday, unable to overcome declines caused by concern over Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500)'s announcement that it may take an additional $11 billion in writedowns because of subprime mortgage exposure.