U.S. stock index futures turned sharply higher Thursday after China said the world’s two largest economies had agreed to remove existing trade tariffs.

Around 8:30 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 154 points, implying an opening gain of 138 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to solid gains.

The gains put the Dow and S&P 500 on track to reach fresh record highs at the open.

Gao Feng, a ministry spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry, said that both sides had agreed to simultaneously cancel some existing tariffs on one another’s goods, according to the country’s state broadcaster. The ministry spokesperson said that both sides were closer to a so-called “phase one” trade agreement following constructive negotiations over the past two weeks.

One important condition for a limited trade agreement, Feng insisted, was that the U.S. and China must remove the same amount of charges at the same time.

On the data front, the latest weekly jobless claims numbers came in at 211,000, down slightly from 218,000 in the previous week.

Please check out our new penny stock pick posted this week!