Before the bell 5-21-07: Deals boost stocks

Stock futures are pointing to positive open, getting a boost from deals over the weekend.

Last week, despite some mixed economic data that mostly pointed to slowing economic activity, the Dow Jones Industrials kept breaking records and the S&P 500 is only 5 points from its record high this morning.

Today, no economic data is due for release, but corporate news is abundant:

Goldman Sachs Group's (NYSE: GS) private equity unit, GS Capital Partners, along with TPG Capital have agreed to acquire Alltel Corp. (NYSE: AT) in a deal worth $27.5 billion. The two investment firms will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Alltel for $71.50 per share in cash, a 23% premium over Alltel's share price prior to buyout speculation appearing in the media. Alltel shares are up 6.9% in pre-market trading (7:19 a.m.).

Private equity firm, Blackstone Group LP said it planned to raise as much as $4.13 billion in its initial public offering with a possible maximum size of the IPO to $4.75 billion. China's new state investment agency is taking a $3 billion nonvoting stake in the company at a discount to the IPO price.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) are in talks for an alliance, trying to improve their position against Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Lowe's Cos. (NYSE: LOW) reported quarterly results this morning, posting a 12% drop in profit as the sluggish housing market continued to hurt sales. Net income dropped to $739 million, or 48 cents a share, missing the average estimate of analysts by 1 cent. Sales rose 2.1% to $12.2 billion.

Overseas, Asian stocks closed mostly higher and European stocks are climbing for a third day.