Stocks Soar after China Rate Cut, ECB

U.S. stocks soared in early trade on Friday after China’s central bank cut interest rates and the European Central Bank’s president reiterated that the institution was ready to expand its stimulus program. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately jumped 167.10 points, or 0.94%, to 17,886.10. The S&P 500 rallied 18.66 points, or 0.91%, to 2,071.41. The Nasdaq Composite was up 37.73 points, or 0.80%, to 4,739.60.

China cut lending rates for the first time in more than two years. The People’s Bank of China said it cut its benchmark one-year loan rate by 0.4 percentage point to 5.6%. The last time China cut lending rates was July 2012.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi sent a strong signal Friday that the central bank is ready to “step up the pressure” and expand its stimulus programs if inflation fails to show signs of quickly returning to the ECB’s target.

The European Central Bank said Friday that it has begun buying asset-backed securities, as seeks to get banks to lend and revive the economy.

The White House says President Barack Obama’s immigration executive actions would boost the economy by expanding the U.S. labor force and increasing worker productivity. It says average wages would rise over a 10 year period, a claim that Obama critics and even some labor allies dispute.

U.S. investment firm Blackstone Group L.P. said Friday that it had reached an agreement to buy General Electric Co.’s residential real-estate business in Japan for more than Yen190 billion ($1.6 billion), another sign of foreign investors’ confidence in the nation’s property market.