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Less than three weeks to go before the presidential election and the race is essentially tied. That could change as a result of Tuesday night's very spirited second presidential debate. A CNN poll is calling a clear Obama win 46-39, but broader election polls aren't out yet.

"The headlines will say Obama is back" after that "first terrible debate," says Olivier Knox, White House correspondent for Yahoo! News. He tells the Daily Ticker the key question now is whether Obama's performance persuaded undecided independent voters to vote for him.

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The rebirth of American manufacturing has been widely discussed by both presidential candidates on the campaign trail and was a topic of dispute at the second presidential debate Tuesday night.

In response to a question during Tuesday's debate on how to create jobs in the U.S., President Barack Obama highlighted the manufacturing sector. The president said he wants to "build on the five million jobs that we've created over the last 30 months in the private sector alone."

"There are a bunch of things we can do to make sure your future is bright," said Obama. "Number one, I want to build manufacturing jobs in this country again. Now when Governor Romney said we should let Detroit go bankrupt. I said we're going to bet on American workers and the American auto industry and it's come surging back."

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Food prices have been rising steadily around the world and this summer's drought isn't the only reason why, according to Frederick Kaufman, author of "Bet the Farm: How Food STOPPED Being Food."

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Some developments in banking not related to Vikram Pandit for your consideration:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is considering providing lenders a "legal shield" against future litigation if the banks make "qualified" loans, The WSJ reports.
• NY Fed President William Dudley is worried about "concentration of mortgage origination volumes at a few key financial institutions."

At issue here is the fact that banks aren't "passing through" the zero interest rates being granted by the Fed. Sure, mortgage rates are at or near record lows but have you tried to get a mortgage lately? If you don't have stellar credit score and a big down payment, it's nearly impossible to get a loan these days; and even then, it ain't easy.

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Since the first presidential debate in Denver two weeks ago, Mitt Romney has staged an amazing surge in the polls. Many Americans agree with pundits that Romney clobbered a surprisingly passive President Obama in the debate, and Romney has gone from nearly-hopeless underdog to, in some polls, the front-runner.

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Mitt Romney is holding on to his post-debate bounce ahead of Tuesday night's second presidential debate, according to a new poll by POLITICO/George Washington University. President Obama is leading the former Massachusetts governor by a very small margin, 49% to 48%.

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Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank confirmed Monday that it would buy 70% of Sprint Nextel for $20.1 billion. This acquisition makes it the largest international deal for a Japanese company. The newly created entity will be called "New Sprint" and become a publicly traded company.

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Provided by Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal

Currency Wars is the term coined by Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega to describe what he saw as the dangerous ramifications of ultra-loose U.S. monetary policy. Mantega (and others) believe that the U.S. is debasing its currency, causing money to rush into emerging market currencies, threatening their ability to compete, and stoking inflation.

Would you give up everything you had in the pursuit of a dream?

Evelyn Stevens gave up her career as an investment banker in 2008 and ended up cycling for the U.S. Olympic team in London just three years later.

Bank stocks fell Friday afternoon along with the broader market as concerns over Europe's debt crisis returned. JPMorgan (JPM) stock dropped 1.5% even though the country's largest bank by assets reported $5.7 billion in third quarter profits, up 34% from a year ago. Shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) slipped 3.1% after it reported a 22% increase in earnings but revenues of $21.2 billion that were lower than revenues in the previous quarter.