U.S. stock futures pointed to strong gains at the open Thursday on the day when official data is likely to show, for the first time, that the economy is contracting.

Shares of Alcatel-Lucent rose as much as 17% on Thursday after the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment reported a narrower third-quarter loss, affirmed its outlook for the year and reassured investors that it is financially stable.

London shares struggled to stay in positive territory on Thursday, with weakness for heavyweights such as Royal Dutch Shell and WPP offsetting strong gains for miners.

Deutsche Bank on Thursday reported an unexpected third quarter profit of 435 million euros ($575 million), helped by a tax gain and a change to accounting rules that allowed the bank to take fewer write-downs on its risky debt.

European shares advanced for a third straight session on Thursday, as investors took on board central bank action to support economies around the world and cheered earnings from Alcatel-Lucent and Unilever.

British house prices fell for the 12th consecutive month in October, dragging the average price down 14.6% from the year-earlier month as the number of transactions remained near historically low levels, mortgage lender Nationwide said Thursday.

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported a 22% rise in third-quarter profit, as rising prices and improving profits from refining and marketing overcame a drop in production.

A roundup of the latest corporate earnings reports and what companies are saying about future quarters.

South Korea’s share index and currency, the won, vaulted Thursday as investors judged a $30 billion swap facility between the Bank of Korea and Federal Reserve, announced before the start of trading, as helping to reduce the likelihood firms would default on their foreign-currency-denominated debt.

In the battle to see how far they can drive the American citizen into frustration, Congress is actually starting to pull ahead of Wall Street when it comes to infuriating people.