Stocks open higher, on track for weekly gains

The S&P 500 opened 23 points, or 1.3%, higher at 1,893.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.27%, the Nasdaq increased 1.85% and S&P 500 climbed 1.55% at 1435 GMT. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 4,591.18) was the biggest victor, posting a gain of 119.1 points, or 2.7% today, and 2.3% for the full week.

Oil prices climbed back above $31 per barrel after a bruising rout that had pushed them to the lowest levels since the start of the Iraq War.

Thursday’s stock market gains were sparked by ECB President Mario Draghi. Apple jumped 5.3 per cent, Amazon 3.7 per cent and Microsoft 3.6 per cent.

Narwhal Capital Management held its stake in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The U.S. stock market has failed to sustain any rallies this year as risk-averse investors search for signs of stability.

Other stocks that have sold off sharply in 2016 rose Friday. The S&P 500 dipped 22.00 points, or 1.17 percent, to 1,859.33, Xinhua news agency reported.

Investors were betting on more stimulus from the Bank of Japan after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aide on Thursday said that “conditions for additional easing have fallen into place”.

The European Central Bank’s news conference follows the bank’s decision in December to boost its easy-money policies by cutting its deposit rate deeper into negative territory and extend the duration of its asset-purchase program. Skeoch added that reports that the Bank of Japan is “mulling further easings” sparked a almost 6% rally Friday in the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index in Japan. Stocks in Hong Kong closed almost 3% higher and shares in mainland China rose 1.3%. The broad Stoxx Europe 600 index was 3.2% higher and shares in Germany were up more than 2%, with gains of 3.5% for the CAC 40 in Paris.