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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set for a positive start Monday, as investors eyed buying opportunities after the recent selloff.

At 8:37 a.m. ET, S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were higher.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Wall Street has slid for two straight weeks amid concerns about the strength of the global recovery.

U.S. stocks slipped Friday after the government's employment report painted a bleaker picture of the jobs market than had been expected. This followed a sharp retreat on Thursday, when the Dow fell more than 200 points on worse-than-expected manufacturing and jobless claims reports.

Ken Wattret, economist with BNP Paribas in London, said the recent "selloff on the back of the payrolls [report] is a bit excessive," which is why futures are higher. But generally speaking, the markets are having a tough time clearing the hurdles of ongoing job losses, tight credit conditions and "unfavorable housing wealth," he said.

"More recently, we've seen some evidence that the economy is losing momentum," said Wattret. "I think the headwinds to growth out there are obviously considerable."

Investors are beginning to worry a bigger selloff could be brewing. The coming wave of corporate earnings reports could offer some direction for stocks. Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) kicks off the third-quarter reporting period on Wednesday.

Economy: The economic calendar is fairly light. A reading on the services sector is due out at 10 a.m. ET.

Companies: Stocks to watch include data-storage firm Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD), which is up for sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said potential buyers could include Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) and Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500).

World markets: In Asia, investors expressed caution. Japan's Nikkei posted modest losses while shares in Hong Kong nudged higher. Major European indexes were slightly higher in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar slipped versus the euro, but rose against the yen and the British pound. Oil slipped 73 cents to $69.22 a barrel.