U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors were awaiting the closely-watched meeting among central bank officials from all over the world.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40.38 points, or 0.19 percent, to 21,852.47. The S&P 500 gained 3.92 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,447.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.51 points, or 0.28 percent, to 6,295.92.

Federal Reserve officials are expected to be joined by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and the Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Friday at the annual Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, the U.S. state of Wyoming.

This year's topic will be "Fostering a Dynamic Global Economy" and investors will be looking for clues related to the global monetary policy.

Expectations for tighter monetary policy in the United States have been dampened recently by soft inflation data. Market expectations for a rate hike in December are just 37.6 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

On the economic front, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday that in the week ending Aug. 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 234,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 232,000. The four-week moving average was 237,750, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 240,500.