US stocks moved sharply higher after the opening bell on Friday in spite of fading optimism that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will hint at imminent easing measures in his keynote speech at the Jackson Hole symposium later today.

Instead, investors remain hopeful that the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce details about its bond-buying programme at its conference on September 6th.

"The ECB is aware of the downsides of underdelivering on this project and we are very much of the view that it will not fall into this trap," said Investec analyst Philip Shaw this afternoon. "Indeed while we are still largely in the dark over specifics, the programme could well be analogous to the LTRO [long-term refinancing operation] programme at the turn of the year - i.e. not a cure all, but giving a big lift to risk asset market sentiment."

As for the Fed, recent economic data Stateside has been robust, meaning that analysts have scaled back their hopes for immediate action from the central bank.

Companies


Banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co gained after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is looking to scale back its dealing with brokerages in an attempt to reduce risk.

Molybdenum producer Thompson Creek Metals was higher after Dahlman Rose & Co lifted its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'buy'.

Economic data


US factory orders data is due out later today from the Commerce Department. Consensus forecasts are for a 1.2% increase month-month in July, compared with the 0.5% fall registered in June.

The University of Michigan confidence index for August is expected to stay flat at 73.6.

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