US stocks rose sharply on Friday, with S&P 500 Index gaining 10.20 points, or 0.79 percent, to trade at 1,316.41 at 10:00 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 50.94 points, or 0.42 percent, to trade at 12,119.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.02 percent to trade at 2,766.08.

The stocks opened higher on Friday after three straight days of losses as oil prices eased after promises from other oil providing nations to boost production in the event of further supply disruptions.

Meanwhile, a report from the Commerce Department showed the U.S. economy grew at a slower rate at the end of last year than initially estimated. However, the data marked the sixth consecutive quarter of growth.

According to the second estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP was revised down to an annualized rate of 2.8 percent during the October-December period from 3.2 percent. Economists expected the growth to be revised up to a 3.3 percent rate. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.

On the corporate front, Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) shares rose nearly 3 percent in early trade after the company said it received a $35-billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build a fleet of aerial fueling tankers.

U.S. stock markets ended mixed in a volatile session on Thursday as oil prices eased and encouraging job data helped the markets to stabilize in the final hours.

On the currency front, the euro weakened 0.44 percent to 1.3739 against the dollar and the greenback lost 0.18 percent against the yen to 81.7440.

Crude oil futures edged up 0.02 percent to $97.3/barrel while gold futures fell 0.69 percent.

European stock markets are currently trading higher with U.K. FTSE 100 up by 50.85 points, German DAX30 up by 28.32 points and French CAC 40 up by 51.09 points.

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