Stock futures were higher early Monday morning as the dollar strengthened and oil prices retreated. Investors may be coming into the market looking for bargains as a result of the recent selloff, meanwhile digesting news of a profit warning from FedEx, upbeat outlook from HSBC and Cableivision may be close to buying Newsday.

On Friday, stocks tanked after oil kept setting new highs, passing the $126 per barrel level. Losses from American International Group -- a Dow component -- also contributed to the bearish sentiment as many had hoped financials were on their way to a recovery. The Dow industrials lost 120 points, or 0.94%, the Nasdaq Composite declined 5 points, or 0.23%, and the S&P 500 declined 9 points, or 0.67%.

Without much economic news, investors will focus on the dollar and oil prices. After breaking the $126 per barrel level Friday and settling at $125.96, oil prices retreated Monday in Asia as the dollar strengthened against the euro and yen. Of course, the retreat is relative and oil has been trading around $125.34 recently.
And for the first time since December 2005, futures traders are turning bullish on the dollar, according to Bloomberg. According to two measures of currency trading, it seems traders expect further dollar appreciation, and not only that, that the rally will hold.

Late Friday, FedEx (NYSE: FDX) warned its fourth-quarter profits could be hurt due to the increase in fuel cost and it cut its quarterly guidance. FDX shares were trading over 3% lower in after-hours Friday.

But while FedEx gave a gloomy outlook, HSBC (NYSE: HBC) said it expects to record larger first-quarter profit than a year earlier despite $3.2 billion in writedowns it disclosed Monday. HSBC CEO said there has been a lull in U.S. delinquencies. HBC shares have been up over 2% in Europe.

In deal news, Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) may be close to buying Newsday newspaper Tribune Co. after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) withdrew its offer. The price mentioned is $650 million.

And finally, companies reporting today include Quarterly updates also are due from Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), which has been in the news lately with a large WiMax deal and possible intereste from Deutche Telekom (NYSE: DT), MBIA (NYSE: MBI), which has seen much better days in its past, and Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI), which is still waiting for approval of its purchase of rival XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR).