Wall Street ready to claw back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks looked set to claw their way back Wednesday from one of their worst performances of the year, helped by strong earnings from an Internet bellwether

At 8:45 a.m. ET, futures were solidly higher, and a comparison to fair value pointed to big gains for Wall Street at the open, particularly on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Stocks sank Tuesday amid mixed earnings news and ongoing problems in the mortgage market. The Dow Jones industrial average, which tracks 30 large companies, fell 226 points - its third biggest point loss this year. The broader S&P 500 index shed nearly 2 percent.

Investors will get another look at the batttered real estate market Wednesday when the National Association of Realtors reports on existing home sales at 10 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that the annual sales rate will continue to slide, falling to a 5.9 million pace in June from just under 6 million in May.

Investors will also mull upbeat results that Amazon.com (Charts, Fortune 500) posted after the market close Tuesday. The leading online retailer said quarterly net profit more than tripled and raised its 2007 sales and operating earnings outlook. Shares of Amazon soared in after-hours trading Tuesday and were up 19 percent in early trading Wednesday in Frankfurt.

Earnings will remain in focus, with a slew of reports on tap. Dow component Boeing (Charts, Fortune 500) posted much better-than-expected earnings, lifting its shares 6 percent in pre-market trading.

No. 3 U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips (Charts, Fortune 500) also reported results that were solidly better than expected when excluding charges related to it Venezuelan operations. Consumer products maker Colgate-Palmolive (Charts, Fortune 500) also posted earnings that topped estimates.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners, said the good earnings news should help stocks Wednesday, although he cautioned that the rebound could evaporate if there's bad economic news after the open. In addition to the housing report, the Federal Reserve releases its so called Beige Book at 2 p.m., which gives a look at economic conditions around the country.

"Right now there's a lot of enthusiasm about good earnings reports, and there was big fall yesterday," he said. "But the rally could be cut short if the housing or the Beige Book have surprises. If there are worries from the Fed it could mean a wobbly afternoon session."

Apple (Charts, Fortune 500) is set to report after the market close; its shares lost 6 percent Tuesday on concerns about a weaker than expected report on activations of the iPhone from AT&T (Charts, Fortune 500), which owns the cell phone service that uses the device. Shares of Apple were down another 3 percent in Frankfurt early Wednesday.

Global markets were hit by the selloff on Wall Street. Major Asian markets finished the session lower, and European stocks tumbled at the open.

Shares of German automaker DaimlerChrysler (Charts) fell 1.7 percent in Frankfurt. The Wall Street Journal reported that attempts to tap debt markets for $20 billion needed for the purchase of its troubled Chrysler unit by Cerberus Capital Management have run into trouble because of soft investor demand.

Treasury prices slipped in early trading, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.93 percent from 4.91 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was rebounded against the euro after hitting a record low Tuesday, but it was lower versus the yen.

Oil prices narrowly higher in early trading ahead of the weekly report on U.S. fuel inventories, due at 10:30 a.m. ET. U.S. light crude rose 7 cents to $73.63 a barrel in electronic trading.