Stocks set for early gains

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were poised to rebound Monday, following the lead of a European stock rally, as investors shook off recent earnings disappointment and focused instead on buying opportunities.

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 slumped Friday after downbeat results from General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500). But stocks, which have been on a roll recently, managed to post gains for the week.

"Realistically, it's as good as you could hope for," said Philip Isherwood, equities strategist at Evolution Securities in London, referring to the Monday rise in U.S. futures. "It's a pick back up from Friday, [when the markets were] knocked back down."

In a note to investors, Manus Cranny, market analyst at MF Global in London, said the gains in the FTSE seemed to be driven more by a desire for a rally, than by strength in fundamentals.

"The current up move is driven by a bizarre lack of correlation between what is happening in the real economy and a perceived return to normality," he wrote. "We are at a cautious moment of confidence rebuilding and that needs massaging, probably with more quantitative easing."

Company results: The company report deluge continues this week, with about 27% of the S&P 500 on the docket.

On Monday, investors will focus on quarterly results from Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500). Both are slated to release financial statements after U.S. markets close.

World markets: In Asia, Japan's Nikkei finished the session with slight losses. Shares in Hong Kong, however, posted gains. Major European indexes were higher in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar slipped versus the yen, euro and British pound. The price of oil slipped 41 cents to $78.12 a barrel.