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• Economists are hopeful that the impact from Washington may soon ease, clearing the way for stronger growth next year.
• Analysts forecast that the economy grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, according to a survey by Factset. That would be down from an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the April-June period. Most economists expect growth will stay at the tepid 2 percent rate or weaken slightly in the October-December quarter.
• The Commerce Department will release its first estimate for third-quarter growth at 8:30 a.m. EST Thursday. It was delayed one week because of the partial government shutdown.
• The American consumer showed little enthusiasm for spending this summer. Higher taxes that took effect earlier this year have lowered take-home pay. And low- and middle-income workers' wages are barely keeping pace with inflation. Consumer spending drives roughly 70 percent of economic activity.
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• MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Thousands of villagers in the central Philippines, including those from a province devastated by a recent earthquake, were being evacuated Thursday as one of the most powerful typhoons globally this year approaches.
• Typhoon Haiyan was already packing sustained winds of 215 kilometers (134 miles) per hour and ferocious gusts of 250 kph (155 mph), and could pick up strength over the Pacific Ocean before it slams into the eastern Philippine province of Eastern Samar on Friday, according to government forecasters.
• The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii said it was the strongest tropical cyclone in the world this year, although Cyclone Phailin, which hit eastern India on Oct. 12, packed winds of up to 222 kph (138 mph) and stronger gusts.
• Governors and mayors were supervising the evacuation of thousands of residents away from landslide- and flood-prone communities in several provinces where the typhoon is expected to pass, said Eduardo del Rosario, head of the government's main disaster-response agency.
• President Benigno Aquino III has ordered officials to aim for zero casualties, a goal often broken in an archipelago lashed by about 20 storms each year, most of them deadly and destructive. Haiyan is the 24th such storm to hit the Philippines this year.

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