Here is a recap of the top news items from the last week:

1. Following one of the worst months in stock market history, US equities ended October with a strong rally. Prior to this week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down as much as 27% from the beginning of the month, but following this week’s 14% rally, the index closed this spooky month down just 13%.

2. A highly anticipated and probably most closely watched economic indicator was released Thursday of this week: GDP. GDP for Q3 came in at down 0.3%, marking the first decline in US growth since