Hopes of more official stimulus for the economy and the easing of a bond market rally put Wall Street on track to open sharply higher on Friday, as a bruising week for markets drew to a close.
New York's three main indexes are down at least 2.4pc since last Friday, racking up their third consecutive week of losses, as investors worried about the risk of recession and US-China trade tensions.
China's state planner said overnight it would roll out a plan to boost disposable income this year and in 2020, to spur consumption as the economy slows.
Investors are also expecting further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and moves by the European Central Bank next month to fight softening growth.
"We haven't seen any major headlines on trade war today and that is giving the market some relief. The move back up on yields is also releasing the pressure on equity markets," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
"It is sort of a relief rally and perhaps some bargain hunting since a lot of stocks have been really decimated during this recent decline."
Among stocks, Nvidia Corp jumped 5.5pc in premarket trading after posting better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue.
Other semiconductor stocks, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Micron Technology Inc, Intel Corp, were up between 1.3pc and 2.3pc.
Interest-rate sensitive lenders, including Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Morgan Stanley, rose more than 1pc as US Treasury bond yields eased off their lows.
At 8:33 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 227 points, or 0.89pc. S&P 500 e-minis were up 25.25 points, or 0.89pc and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 80 points, or 1.07pc.
The so-called FAANG group - which includes Facebook Inc , Amazon.com Inc, Apple, Netflix Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc - gained at least 1pc.
Deere & Co shares fell 0.9pc as the farm equipment maker cut its full-year profit and sales growth forecasts.
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