NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures rose, indicating a higher opening on Wall Street on Monday, after AT&T Inc.'s (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) announcement of a $67 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. (BLS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) showed investor optimism about future growth. AT&T said it was buying BellSouth to acquire the rest of mobile phone venture Cingular Wireless it does not already own and to expand into the Southeast to battle competition from cable television and Internet companies. AT&T shares fell 1.4 percent to $27.60 on the Inet electronic brokerage while BellSouth rose 13.3 percent to $35.65. The deal may lift other telecommunications stocks on expectations of further consolidation in the sector. Telecom shares in Europe shot up on the news. "There's been already a good run in telecommunications shares, but these mega-deals are a sign companies are betting on higher growth down the road and it benefits stocks altogether," said Tony Dwyer, chief equity strategist at FTN Financial. "We might see a good market opening." Standard & Poor 500 stock index futures rose 1.9 points, or above fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Futures on the Dow average were up 4 points and Nasdaq futures gained 6 points. Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) (RIMM.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the maker of the popular BlackBerry portable e-mail devices, rose before the opening bell after the company announced on Friday the settlement of a prolonged patent fight Shares of the Canadian company rose 14 percent on Inet to $10.38. In other deals, General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it would sell a 17.4 percent equity stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269.T: Quote, Profile, Research), or about 92.36 million shares, for an estimated $2 billion. GM shares rose 2.5 percent before the bell to $19.68. Education Management Corp. (EDMC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it had agreed to be acquired for $3.4 billion by Providence Equity Partners and the investment arm of Goldman Sachs. Citigroup raised its rating on Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to "buy" from "hold," MarketWatch reported on its Web site Monday. Analysts at Citigroup also raised their rating on Nucor Corp. (NUE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to "buy" from "hold," MarketWatch reported on its Web site Monday. Front-month U.S. crude slipped 60 cents to $63.07 a barrel, ending a four-day rally that had pushed prices to a new one-month high of $63.92 a barrel. Price rises were tempered by expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will decide to keep pumping at full tilt when it meets on Wednesday. On the economic front, factory orders figures for January are due for release at 10 a.m. Economists on average forecast a drop of 5.3 percent after a 1.1 percent rise the previous month. Beste Grüße vom Gesellen
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