9:45AM U.S. stocks opened modestly higher amid merger deals.
Wall Street opened slightly higher Tuesday, helped by multibillion-dollar acquisition deals. Better-than-expected economic data also generated positive sentiment. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence bounced back in May to 108.0 from 106.3 in April. Economists had expected the index to rise to 105.8

A consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland said it will bid $95.5 billion for ABN Amro (ABN: chart), topping an offer from Barclays. Tishman Speyer Properties and Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH: chart) are reportedly interested in buying Archstone-Smith Trust (ASN: chart) for more than $12 billion, including $6 billion in debt.

Washington Group (WNG: chart) surged 16% after the engineering and construction company agreed to be acquired by URS Corp. (URS: chart) for $2.6 billion in cash and stock. Shares of Avaya (AV: chart) climbed 13% amid reports that the communications equipment maker is in talks regarding a sale of part or all of the company.

Airline stocks moved notably higher in morning trading, with AirTran (AAI: chart) rising 3.4% and Continental (CAL: chart) adding 3.8%. The wireless sector also posted gains, helped by 4% rise in the shares of Vodafone (VOD: chart) has helped to lead the sector higher, with the mobile phone company currently up 4.1 percent on narrower full-year loss.

Strength in the gold, tobacco, and semiconductor sectors also provided a bost. Among semiconductor stocks, Marvell Technology (MRVL: chart) is advanced 3%. In the first hour of trading, the Dow rose 27.96, or 0.21%, to 13,535.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 2.50, or 0.16%, to 1,518.23, and the Nasdaq composite index added 6.45, or 0.25%, to 2,563.64. Bonds fell slightly, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.87% from 4.86% late Friday.


9:30AM FTSE 100 is higher on Tuesday morning with Vodafone in focus.

The UK benchmark FTSE 100 is higher in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 rose 26.8 points, 0.4%, at 6,597.3.

Advancers

Vodafone Group led the advancers after it announced an upbeat outlook statement and reported an 11.4% rise in adjusted basic earnings per share. The mobile phone company added that while it hoped operating conditions to continue to be challenging in Europe, group revenue was expected to be in the range of 33.3 billion pounds to 34.1 billion pounds. Vodafone jumped 4.8%.

Satellite TV provider BSkyB advanced 3% after UBS upped its price target, reiterating its buy rating. IMI, the engineering group, led mid-cap advancers after Citigroup hiked its rating from hold to buy. The group traded up 6.3%.

Airliner British Airways, 4.8% higher, was also reporting strong gains on reports that US investment bank Goldman Sachs has suspended its rating on the shares. Last week, Goldmans raised its stake in BA to over 5%.

Decliners

Royal Bank of Scotland fell 1.6% after the bank and its partners, Fortis and Santander, came with their long-awaited formal offer to acquire ABN Amro in a deal that values the Dutch bank at 71.1 billion euros, with 79 % of the payment in cash.

iSoft Group plunged 19.2% after it received notification from Computer Sciences Corporation that it does not intend to give consent to the change of control in iSoft that is a condition of IBA offer.

Biodegradable packaging group Stanelco plummeted 45.7%, admitting that its Greenseal technology is unlikely to lead to any commercial sales.


9:00AM Merger activity boosted pre-market sentiment.

U.S. stock futures were indicating a positive opening on Tuesday after a three-day weekend. Pre-market sentiment was lifted by merger activity, including a $95.5 billion hostile bid for ABN Amro (ABN: chart) from a group led by Royal Bank of Scotland. In other deal news, Archstone-Smith (ASN: chart) is close to a $20 billion acquisition by Tishman Speyer and Lehman Brothers (LEH: chart). URS Corp. (URS: chart) agreed to buy engineering and design company Washington Group (WNG: chart) for $2.6 B in cash and stock.

In earnings news, Vodafone Group (VOD: chart) announced narrower full-year loss due to cost cutting and strong growth in emerging markets. On the economic agenda, the Conference Board is due to report its May index of consumer confidence, while Standard & Poor''s is expected to release its home price index. The futures contact for the Dow Jones Industrial Average last was up 25 points at 13,552. The futures contract for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 last were 3 points higher at 1,520.30 and up 2.5 points at 1,895.5.