The Department of Justice will collaborate with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in a nationwide effort to curb redlining in banks' lending practices. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the initiative will look at lending practices "on a broader geographic scale than the Justice Department has ever done before."

An atmospheric river of tropical moisture from the Pacific Ocean has brought severe flooding, mudslides and damaging wind to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. On the East Coast, flood watches are in effect for areas from New Jersey through eastern Massachusetts, including New York City, as a nor'easter is set to generate heavy rainfall into Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the time has come for the central bank to start tapering off its asset buying but there's no need to raise interest rates yet. Powell said he is confident inflation will diminish next year, although the Fed will "need to make sure that our policy is positioned for a range of possible outcomes."

With regulators in the US and Germany investigating accusations that the German asset manager DWS exaggerated its compliance with environmental, social and governance criteria, many of the firm's competitors are scaling back ESG claims in their marketing materials, fearful they could come under scrutiny next. "You have to be careful, as there is a big reputational risk," said a senior executive for a European asset manager.

Democrats are close to agreement on a compromise social spending bill that is a scaled-back version of President Joe Biden's original proposal, said House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. A House vote on the measure and the infrastructure bill are likely in the coming week because "we're pretty much there now," Pelosi said.

Market participants are dissatisfied with the EU's consultation on best execution reports which included a document that omits research the European Securities and Markets Authority performed on the issue of what financial firms require from the reports. Asked about criticism of the process, an ESMA spokesman emphasized that the review is ongoing and invited stakeholders to offer their views on the matter.

Goldman Sachs Group said China's economy will probably expand by 5.2% in 2022, rather than the 5.6% it projected earlier this year, if the government stands by its long-term policy objectives. The rising inflation and slowing growth in this year's third quarter probably won't be sustained, the bank said.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has posted its third consecutive week of gains after emerging-market companies reported earnings an average of 3.6% higher that what analysts expected. That marks the longest weekly rally for the benchmark since June.

HSBC topped analysts forecasts in the third quarter to report a pre-tax profit of $5.4 billion. The bank said it will soon launch a share buyback program that could go as high as $2 billion.

The European Commission has given antitrust approval for S&P Global's $44 billion takeover of IHS Markit on the condition S&P sells IHS Markit's US Oil Price Information Service, PetroChemWire and its metals and mining businesses, a deal previously agreed with News Corp for $1.15 billion. European antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement that with the conditional approval, "the problematic overlaps in commodity price assessments, and also in the area of loan identifiers and indices, are fully removed."