Des Moines City Manager Rick Clark and Finance Director Allen McKinley will host town hall meetings at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and 7 p.m. Nov. 12 to provide residents a chance to have some input in the upcoming city budget. The meetings will be at the Des Moines Central Library, 1000 Grand Ave. The meetings will be broadcast on the city government cable channel and streamed over the Internet at www.dmgov.org, which also serves as another venue for budget suggestions.

Ford Motor Co., the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, posted net income of $997 million in the third quarter and its first operating profit since early 2008. Ford said it expects to be “solidly profitable” in 2011. On an adjusted basis, Ford reported a quarterly pretax profit of $1.1 billion, or 26 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $3 billion, or $1.32 per share. Ford beat the 20-cents-a-share adjusted loss expected by an average of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The U.S. manufacturing sector grew in October for a third consecutive month and at a faster rate than expected, according to an industry report released today. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose to 55.7 in October from 52.6 in September, Reuters reported. The median forecast of 74 economists surveyed by Reuters was for a reading of 53. The October reading was the highest since 56 in April 2006. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while a number below that means contraction. The ISM report also said its employment index for the manufacturing industry jumped to 53.1 in October, its strongest showing since April 2006, from 46.2 a month ago. The employment index has not been above the 50 mark since July 2008, when it was at 51.

Chinese manufacturing data for October showed that nation’s recovery strengthening and export orders climbing, giving policy makers more room to pare stimulus measures in coming months, Bloomberg reported. Manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in 18 months, according to a purchasing managers’ index released today by HSBC Holdings plc and a government-backed index released Sunday. The HSBC index rose to a seasonally adjusted 55.4 from 55 in September, an e-mailed statement said. China is helping to stoke a global recovery, Bloomberg said. Another report today found that manufacturing activity in the euro region expanded for the first time in 17 months in October.