The Commerce Department's initial estimate of third-quarter economic growth, due for release today, is expected to show a decline in growth for the first time in over a year, largely because of the Delta coronavirus variant. "Delta is the biggest reason why we have this noticeable deceleration," Moody's Analytics economist Ryan Sweet says, but there is evidence growth began to revive in September as the effect of the variant faded.

Yields on 10- and 30-year Treasurys have suffered the steepest declines since July amid concerns about how well the economy would manage tapering of asset purchases and interest-rate increases. However, shorter-dated instruments have continued to trade well, with a sale of 5-year Treasurys netting $61 billion.

In a hearing that is part of his nomination to become permanent chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, acting Chair Rostin Behnam has testified before the Senate agriculture committee on issues including climate risk to financial markets, voluntary carbon markets and the regulatory environment for digital assets.

CME Group saw its average daily volume rise 14% to 17.8 million contracts from a year ago. CME's 53% increase in interest rate futures, 18% increase in energy futures and 170% increase in bitcoin futures volumes pushed third-quarter revenue up 2.6% to $1.11 billion.

Letitia James, New York state's attorney general, has decided to run for governor, three sources told The Associated Press. A campaign adviser, Kimberly Peeler-Allen, said James will make an announcement about her decision in the next few days.

Giuseppe Citrano, who came to the US from Southern Italy, bought Eddie's Sweet Shop in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens in New York City in 1968. In the 53 years since, the ice cream parlor has remained mostly unchanged, with Citrano's family serving ice cream, shakes and malts in an interior complete with a marble counter and swivel stools.

Entities that expect to use Libor after the benchmark expires at year-end through use of a synthetic Libor, or "zombie Libor," are mistaken, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu has said during an event sponsored by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee. "Let me be clear: The federal financial regulators have said no new Libor exposures -- zombie or otherwise -- after Dec. 31, 2021, and we mean it," Hsu said.

PNC Financial Services Group Chief Economist Gus Faucher expects supply chain bottlenecks to ease, despite a 0.4% month-over-month decline in September for durable goods orders, as manufacturers faced higher material and labor costs. "I expect that supply chain issues will be worked out over the next six months or so," Faucher says. "Demand for manufactured goods remains solid, and business investment will be a driver of economic growth in 2022."

New-home sales surged 14% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 800,000 units, according to the Commerce Department. The total is the largest in six months, although the cost of a new home increased in September by 18.7% to a median price of $408,800.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly only allowing unleveraged exposure to bitcoin futures contracts and has asked Valkyrie Investments to withdraw its leveraged bitcoin exchange-traded fund proposal, according to sources. Meanwhile, Direxion has filed an application for an ETF that effectively bets against the ProShares ETF's bitcoin futures contracts.

ProShares has launched three exchange-traded funds that invest in specialized technologies. With the addition of the ProShares On-Demand ETF, the ProShares Smart Materials ETF and the ProShares Nanotechnology ETF, the issuer now has a total of 12 thematic ETFs in its lineup.

Hear Securities and Exchange Commission member Caroline Crenshaw and Leslie Seidman, independent corporate director and former Financial Accounting Standards Board chair, give keynote speeches at the XBRL US Investor Forum. This half-day event focuses on how quality, granular, machine-readable data drives greater automation and produces more dependable and consistent outcomes for researchers, analysts, investors, corporate planners, auditors and regulators. The program was developed by XBRL US and is held in partnership with Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business, CFA Institute and CFA Society New York. The event is free to attend, but registration is required.

Adding sophisticated forex analysis to an asset owner's investment strategy can, in many cases, lower overall risk exposure and raise returns. This AOS Virtual will address how a panel of asset owners has implemented these strategies. As the global COVID-19 recovery continues, varying degrees of pandemic-related economic impact and resilience in different regions will only add to international volatility, making this an opportune time to investigate forex analysis with the quantitative tools now available. Learn how these tools can contribute to your process when you tune in to this discussion.