U.S. stocks open higher amid jobs report, ECB move

U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, as investors focused on a solid jobs report released Friday and digested the European Central Bank's (ECB) decision.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 211,000 in November, beating market estimates of 200,000, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.

Analysts said the solid job growth would most likely pave the way for the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this month for the first time in nearly a decade.

"December is decided, the new debate is what happens after that," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

The ECB on Thursday decided to lower the interest rate of deposit facility by 10 basis points to minus 0.3 percent, with effect from Dec. 9, 2015.

The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rate on the marginal lending facility will remain unchanged at 0.05 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.

"The monthly purchases of 60 billion euros (65 billion U.S. dollars) under the APP are now intended to run until the end of March 2017," said Mario Draghi, president of the ECB at a press conference following the governing council meeting.

The stimulus measures, however, appeared less aggressive than markets had expected. Analysts had anticipated a deeper cut to interest rates and had expected an increase in its asset purchase program.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 52.45 points, or 0.30 percent, to 17,530.12. The S&P 500 rose 5.88 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,055.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 7.44 points, or 0.15 percent, to 5,044.97.

U.S. stocks extended losses Thursday, as investors assessed the ECB decision to cut deposit interest rate and Fed Chair Janet Yellen's remarks on economy. Endi