U.S. stocks open higher after ECB rate cut decision

U.S. stocks opened sharply higher on Friday, as investors continued to assess the impacts of the European Central Bank (ECB) decision to cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low of zero percent.

The Governing Council of the ECB decided to cut the main refinancing operations rate for the euro area by five basis points to a record low of zero percent on Thursday.

The ECB also expanded its asset purchase program from 60 billion euros (66.81 billion U.S. dollars) to 80 billion euros (89.08 billion dollars) per month, beginning in April.

"This comprehensive package will exploit the synergies between the different instruments and has been calibrated to further ease financing conditions, stimulate new credit provision and thereby reinforce the momentum of the euro area's economic recovery and accelerate the return of inflation to levels below, but close to 2 percent," ECB President Mario Draghi said at a press conference following the governing council meeting.

"Draghi managed to do enough to garner an initial positive market reaction. He has another opportunity to impress at the news conference, but for now, the ECB has defied the skeptics and achieved a tiny bit more traction in its efforts to reinflate the European Union economy," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.

On the economic front, U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes came out better than expected. In February, U.S. import prices fell by 0.3 percent, while export prices decreased 0.4 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 129.09 points, or 0.76 percent, to 17,124.22. The S&P 500 gained 14.93 points, or 0.75 percent, to 2,004.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 44.41 points, or 0.95 percent, to 4,706.57.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed fractionally mixed after volatile trading, as Wall Street digested the ECB move and Draghi's comments. Endi