Stocks set for early gains
Futures advance as investors appear ready to recover from Friday's big selloff; lower oil prices help improve the mood.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures rose early Monday as investors looked for bargains after the previous session's brutal selloff and crude prices retreated from record levels.
At 6:26 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were higher and pointing to early gains for Wall Street.
Stocks tanked Friday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average shedding about 120 points.
Crude falls. But lower crude prices appeared to help lift some of the gloom that was cast over markets last week.
Oil prices edged lower in electronic trading Monday after closing at a record high of $125.96 a barrel on Friday. The price of a barrel of U.S. crude lost 62 cents to $125.34, a decline helped by the gains the dollar made against the euro and the yen.
In major corporate news, Cablevision (CVC, Fortune 500) reportedly is close to buying the Long Island, N.Y., newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. for $650 million. The deal was expected after News Corp. (NWS, Fortune 500), which owns the rival New York Post, pulled out of the bidding for Newsday Saturday.
In other corporate news, the Wall Street Journal reported that troubles at American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500) are prompting International Lease Finance Corp., an airplane-leasing giant run by one of AIG's largest shareholders, to consider seeking a split from the company. AIG, a Dow component, reported a $7.8 billion first-quarter loss last week, due primarily to subprime mortgage losses.
HSBC (HBC) disclosed on Monday $3.2 billion in writedowns in its consumer finance business plus other impairments, but said it expects to record larger first-quarter profit than a year earlier. Shares of the bank were up 2% in heavy London trading on the news.
Research in Motion (RIMM) unveiled its first major new BlackBerry, called the Bold, in more than a year. The latest model has twice the screen resolution of the current model.
FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) cut its fourth-quarter guidance late Friday, blaming a steep increase in fuel costs.
Video-game publisher Electronic Arts (ERTS) also announced late Friday it received debt financing commitments of up to $1 billion for its $2 billion tender offer for smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO).
Other markets. In global trade, Japan's Nikkei finished the session higher. European stocks also advanced in midday trading. 
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