⁍ S&P 500 rose partly on bets for strong earnings from mega-caps but was still down nearly 4% for the week.

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⁍ European Central Bank said it would increase its support for the bloc’s economy amid the pandemic.

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⁍ U.S. gross domestic product soared to a widely-predicted record bounce.

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– The US economy grew at a 2.1% annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday, the fastest pace in three years and enough to suggest the economy is on solid footing heading into the final three months of the year. The figure—which came in ahead of economists’ estimates of 2.1%—was also higher than the previous mark of 2.1% set in the second quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The gross domestic product report also showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, the lowest in more than a decade, from 4.2% in the second quarter. “It’s a big day in technology today in anticipation of their results,” Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York, tells Reuters. “We think that’s helping to fuel today’s rally in anticipation of positive surprises from these companies.” The European Central Bank said it would increase its support for the bloc’s economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, weighing on the euro even as policy was left unchanged, while US gross domestic product soared to a widely-predicted record bounce that helped trigger stock buying on Wall Street, enough to halt the rout on equities globally so far this week. The S&P 500 rose partly on bets for strong earnings from mega-caps but was still down nearly 4% for the week so far, as traders have shied away from risk on concern a new wave of COVID-19 infections will hinder the economic recovery.