North American stock markets were up with U.S. exchanges setting record intraday highs on signals about an impending trade deal between the world’s two largest economies.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 7.29 points at 16,946.90.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 220.75 points at 28,132.05. The S&P 500 index was up 26.94 points at 3,168.57, while the Nasdaq composite was up 63.27 points at 8,717.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for US75.86¢ compared with an average of US75.75¢ on Wednesday.

The January crude contract was up US42¢ at US$59.18 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up US8.5¢ at US$2.33 per mmBTU.

The February gold contract was down US$2.70 at US$1,472.30 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 0.7 of a cent at US$2.80 a pound.