The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 67.96 points (0.55 per cent) at 12,333.09 just after the market opened for trading. The Dow had tumbled by almost three percent, or 370 points, a day earlier.

The tech-rich Nasdaq rose 14.83 points (0.64 per cent) to 2,324.40 while the broad-market Standard & Poor?s 500 index gained 7.56 points (0.57 per cent) to 1,344.20.

'The stock market remains extremely sensitive to any economic data,' said Dick Green, a market analyst at Briefing.com.

Markets were spooked on Tuesday after a survey which tracks the services sector showed a sharp plunge, triggering concerns that a lingering housing slump is spreading into other sectors of the economy.

On the earnings front, media giant Time Warner revealed a 41 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits to 1.03 billion dollars, but its results were skewed because it booked a big gain a year earlier from the sale of some of AOL's online operations.

Time Warner reported earnings per share of 28 cents for the quarter, and said revenues grew two percent to 12.6 billion dollars. -- AFP