Early bounce for stocks
Coming off a big selloff, markets gain ground as auto bailout talks reportedly make progress.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Talk that the government will soon approve a $15 billion auto industry bailout gave a lift to stocks Wednesday morning, one day after a big selloff.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) all gained in the early going.
Stocks fell Tuesday as earnings warnings and job cuts reminded investors that the global economy remains weak. The Dow industrials fell 2.7%, the Nasdaq lost 1.6% and the S&P 500 was 2.3% lower.
Asian markets finished higher Wednesday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index up 3.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 5.6%. European stocks were mixed in midday trading, with a decline in London's FTSE-100, but gains in Paris' CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX.
Big Three Bailout: Talks between congressional Democrats and the White House on the proposed $15 billion in loans to Detroit's Big Three automakers broke up Tuesday evening, with two senior aides to Senate Democrats involved in the talks reporting progress on several key issues but no done deal yet.
In the proposal, General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler would receive the funding in order to maintain operations through the end of the year. Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) has said it only wants access to the funding as a backstop for its operations.
"I think you're going to get a decision for the automakers this afternoon," said Anthony Conroy, head trader at BNY Brokerage. "$15 billion is more of a Band-Aid than a fix, but it'll buy some time."
Job cuts: Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) said it will begin handing out pink slips Wednesday. This is a follow-up to the company's announced plans back in October to reduce its workforce by 10%, or more than 1,400 workers.
Electronic Arts (ERTS), the electronic gaming company, on Tuesday lowered its earnings guidance for fiscal year 2009 and also announced staff reductions. The company said it was cutting jobs to save costs, but did not specify the number of layoffs.
Overseas, the British mining company Rio Tinto (RTP) said Wednesday it would cut 14,000 jobs as it struggles with the sharp drop in commodity prices.
SKF, a Swedish manufacturer of bearings, also said on Wednesday that it was laying off 2,500 workers worldwide, or 6% of its workforce, because of slowing demand in the auto sector.
This is in addition to some 50,000 cuts announced in December by a variety of companies across a wide spectrum of industries. Through November of this year, the U.S. economy hemorrhaged 1.9 million jobs, according to the Labor Department.
Money and oil: The dollar rose versus the yen, but slipped against the euro and the British pound. Oil prices rose $2.05 a barrel to $44.12 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The key economic report due Wednesday is the government's weekly data on petroleum inventory, scheduled for 10:35 a.m. ET. 
