US pre-open: Futures have stocks extending gains as trade remains in focus

As of 1200 BST, Dow futures were up 0.40%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures had the indices opening 0.39% and 0.65% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 311.78 points higher on Tuesday, bouncing back from their worst day so far this year in the previous session.

News that China was taking steps to steady its currency, which breached the 7 yuan dollar USD level for the first time in 11 years on Monday, seemingly calmed investors worried about a global currency war on Wednesday.

The People's Bank of China set the official midpoint reference for yuan at 6.9996 on Wednesday, just a touch away from the psychologically important level.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "The evolution of the trade war into a currency war has so far been largely symbolic, with China firing a warning shot with the higher currency fix and the US labelling it a currency manipulator."

However, Erlam noted that this could, of course, escalate further and encourage more aggressive tariff action and another breakdown in talks between Washington and Beijing, prompting more risk-aversion in markets and adding to the bull-case for gold.

On the data front, mortgage applications for the week ended 2 August were due out at midday, while consumer credit figures for the month of June were set to be released at 2000 BST.

In corporate news, CenterPoint, NRG Energy, Booking Holdings, Fox Corp and AIG will all publish their latest quarterly figures throughout the day.