NEW YORK - US STOCKS opened with modest gains Wednesday as a strong earnings report and upbeat guidance from tech giant Hewlett-Packard help calm Wall Street after two days of heavy selling.

In opening trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted up 11.07 points (0.10 per cent) to 11,359.62 while the Nasdaq composite rose 9.17 points (0.38 per cent) to 2,393.53.

The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index added 2.05 points (0.16 per cent) to 1,268.74.

HP reported after the close on Tuesday that its profit for the quarter just ended rose 14 per cent to two billion dollars, and offered an outlook for the current quarter ahead of most forecasts.

This helped ease selling fever on Wall Street in the past two sessions stemming from worries about more troubles in the US real estate sector that will widen losses for banks.

'Strong earnings guidance from Hewlett-Packard after the close last night appear to have reinvigorated the bulls, despite relatively uninspiring quarterly reports elsewhere on the Street,' said Ms Andrea Kramer at Schaeffer's Investment Research. -- AFP