Stocks set for mild gains

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LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks looked set for slight gains Wednesday after a miserable session, helped by solid earnings from Walt Disney.

A little more than two hours before the market open, Nasdaq and S&P futures turned higher, with a comparison to fair value indicating a positive open.

Stocks tanked Tuesday after a weak reading on the service sector fanned recession fears. The Dow sank 370 points, or about 3%, marking its biggest one-day point loss since mid-October and worst one-day percentage fall since February 27, 2007.

But bargain-hunting investors appeared ready to help stocks mount a recovery of sorts on Wednesday. Sentiment was also lifted by strong results at Walt Disney, which reported quarterly results late Tuesday that topped Wall Street's forecast. Shares gained 5% in after-hours trading.

Media conglomerate Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500) also posted results that met analysts' expectations. The company owns cable networks, Internet firm America Online, as well as CNNMoney.com.

On the agenda for Wednesday is a government report on productivity due out before the market open. The government also releases its weekly report on crude inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The race for the White House remained in focus as results came in for one of the most important primary days in U.S. history. Sen. John McCain cemented his status as Republican Party front-runner, while Democratic voters remained split between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, according to CNN's projections.

In global trade, the sell-off on Wall Street raised anxiety in Asia, where markets posted sharp losses. Japan's Nikkei tumbled nearly 5% and Hong Kong stocks dropped 5.4%. But in Europe, shares rose slightly as economic worries were offset by hopes for more rate cuts.