U.S. stocks jumped at the opening of trading after the
European Central Bank took a step toward calming that region's debt crisis.
The bank's president unveiled a new program on Thursday to buy bonds issued by struggling European governments with the aim of lowering their borrowing costs.
Mario Draghi said the program will have no set limit on how much it can buy.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 149 points to 13,196 shortly after the opening bell.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 15 to 1,418. The Nasdaq composite is up 30 to 3,099.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 last week to 365,000. That figure won't affect the August jobs report, out Friday, but could be a sign of a better hiring.
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