U.S. stocks opened modestly higher Thursday morning as market bulls appeared emboldened by easy-money policies enacted by the European Central and hope that it could influence the Fed.

The European Central Bank cut its deposit rate from negative 0.4% to negative 0.5%, while announcing it would begin open-ended purchasing of long-term government bonds at a pace of €20 billion a month in an effort to further reduce long-term interest rates, in a bid to boost the sluggish eurozone economy. The central bank said rates would remain at 'present or lower levels' until the inflation outlook 'robustly' converges with its target of just below 2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66 points, or 0.3%, at 27,207, while the S&P 500 index advanced 0.4% to 3,011 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.6% to 8,217. All three benchmarks stand within shouting distance of all-time records as investors bet that the ECB's move will influence the Federal Reserve, which gathers next week to decide on domestic monetary policy. Stocks had been headed higher before the ECB moves, after President Donald Trump said tariff hikes-from 25% to 30%-that were scheduled to take effect Oct. 1 will now go into effect Oct. 15.

Source: marketwatch