U.S. stock index futures turned sharply higher Thursday morning, after China said the world's two largest economies had agreed to remove existing trade tariffs.
At around 04:00 a.m. ET, Dow futures rose 135 points, indicating a positive open of more than 119 points. Futures on the S&P and Nasdaq were both higher.
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.
It comes after reports that a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could be postponed until December — delaying a chance for the two leaders to sign an interim trade deal.
Market participants had expected the two economic giants to sign a deal later this month, after both Washington and Beijing spoke of progress in talks late last week.
The U.S. and China have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of one another's goods since the start of 2018, battering financial markets and souring business and consumer sentiment.
Data, earnings
On the data front, the latest weekly jobless claims will be released at around 8:30 a.m., with consumer credit figures for September due to be published later in the session.
In corporate news, Discovery, Johnson Controls and Ralph Lauren are among some of the companies set to report earnings.
Booking Holdings, Disney and Activision Holdings are among some of companies set to report their latest quarterly figures after market close.