US stock markets finished higher on Thursday after a heavy news day that included earnings from tech heavyweights, an ECB interest rate cut and reactions to a fatal US plane crash.

Among the large companies reporting results, both Meta and Tesla advanced while Microsoft, Caterpillar and UPS all retreated.

"The earnings news, in aggregate, hasn't knocked the socks off the market," said a note from Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.4 percent at 44,882.13.

The S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to 6,071.17, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 19,681.75.

The European Central Bank cut its benchmark deposit rate by a quarter point to 2.75 percent, its fifth reduction since June last year and a move widely expected by observers.

The ECB's latest decision comes a day after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.

US Treasury yields retreated as data Thursday estimated US economic growth at 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, slowing from the 3.1 percent rate in the July to September period.

Among individual companies, American Airlines dropped 2.5 percent as investigators began probing the causes of a crash involving an affiliate carrier of American Airlines and a military helicopter that claimed 67 lives.

Most other US carriers also fell.

More earnings from large companies are scheduled Friday, along with key US inflation data. (AFP)