The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost at least 3pc each on Monday, their sixth straight day of losses, as China let the yuan drop sharply in what was seen as a retaliation to President Donald Trump's threat to slap a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports last week.

Fears of an escalating trade war were fanned further after US Treasury Department labeled Beijing a currency manipulator late on Monday.

"The fact that China stabilized its currency gives investors some hope that this won't accelerate into a bigger problem," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, a family investment office in New Vernon, New Jersey.

"Any positive response by either side that suggests some willingness to negotiate is really going to be taken well by investors."

At 8:28 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 218 points, or 0.85pc. S&P 500 e-minis were up 24.25 points, or 0.86pc and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 75.75 points, or 1.03pc.

Of the 30 Dow Jones Industrial components, 29 were trading higher before the bell.

Shares of technology companies, which have a big exposure to China, were also higher.

Apple Inc rose 1.0pc after three days of heavy losses, while shares of semiconductor companies - Intel Corp , Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Nvidia Corp  - rose between 1.1pc and 2pc.

Industrial bellwethers Boeing Co and Caterpillar Inc  rose about 0.6pc each.

Among other stocks, videogame publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc jumped 7.1pc after raising its full-year revenue forecast.

Payments processor Mastercard Inc gained 1.7pc after it said it would buy a majority of the corporate services businesses of European payments company Nets for about $3.19 billion.

Walt Disney Co was up 1.3pc. The company is set to report its third-quarter results after market close.

The latest streak of losses has pulled the S&P 500 about 6pc away from its all-time high hit last month.