US stocks rose to their highest in nearly four months after President Donald Trump late on Sunday postponed an increase in US tariffs on Chinese imports.
He tweeted that trade talks between both countries had been productive and a deal was very close.
The news prompted market rallies in Europe and Asia.
The Shanghai Composite Index in China neared a bull market, up almost 20 per cent from its last low.
The Dow Jones index and the S&P 500 reached their highest level since last November.
At 6:30am on the east coast, the Dow Jones index was up half a per cent to 26,171.
Shares in General Electric jumped 9 per cent after it agreed to sell its biopharma business for $US21 billion.
Oil prices dropped after Mr Trump tweeted that oil prices were too high.
He told oil producing cartel OPEC to relax.
West Texas crude fell 3 per cent to $US55.52 a barrel.
Spot gold has come off its lows to $US1,327 an ounce.
In futures trade, the ASX SPI 200 index was down more than 0.1 per cent to 6,135.
The Australian dollar was boosted by the trade news to around 71.8 US cents, up three-quarters of a per cent from recent lows.
