this morning on "early today" -- rallying cry. wall street surges on a long-awaited european debt deal. last stand as the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor winds down. close encounter. a california kayakers amazing close encounter. a california kayakers amazing run-in with two humpback whales. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm vinita nair. today we begin a booming rally. the dow jones went on a tear relieved of anxiety after european leaders hammer out a deal. news of the sweeping deal stoked optimism on wall street

yesterday with rejuvenate ed investors sending the dow soaring 340 points, putting on track for one of the best months ever. the economy grew at fastest pace of the year in the third quarter with gdp growing at 2.5% annual rate, way up from just 1.3% over the prior three months. we will have more on the market run-up coming up in business. a decade's old case of discrimination against black farmers is being addressed now that a federal judge has approved a landmark $1.2 billion settlement. the case had been settled back in 1999 for $1 billion after a group of african-american farmers successfully sued the department of agriculture for claims that they were denied loans and other federal aid. the second round of payments is directed at tens of thousands of farmers who missed an earlier filing deadline. congress passed the second settlement in february of last year. the defense team for michael jackson's physician is winding down.

yesterday attorneys for dr. conrad murray tried to convince the jury jackson himself could have administered the final fatal dose of the potent painkiller propofol, hoping to create enough reasonable doubt to vindicate their client. nbc's jinah kim has more. >> yes, do i. >> reporter: expected to be the final witness of the conrad murray trial, dr. paul white is a renowned anesthesiologist who's known as father of propofol. testifying for the defense, white made it clear to know he's not excusing dr. murray. >> the elephant in the room being conrad murray accused of infusing propofol and leaving this patient. can you justify that? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: white's roll is to

rebutt the testimony of the prosecution's key propofol expert, dr. steven schaeffer. he says the amount of propofol given to michael jackson could be wrong based on a previous study we worked on together. >> the solid line is the doctor's modelling of the pharmacokinetics and you can see the model significantly under-predicted the actual blood levels. >> reporter: the other witness was dr. waldman who said he believes michael jackson was addicted to demerol and the withdrawal caused his crippling. desperate insomnia. several times he clashed with the prosecutor. >> i'm talking about the chart. >> where did the chart come from? >> you. >> and where did i get it? >> i have no idea. >> i told you before. >> excuse me -- >> this is a fascinating colloquy but we have questions and answers. let's have them, please. >> thank you. >> reporter: the defense could call one more witness, dr. murray himself. nbc news, las alos angeles.

now a look at other stories making news "early today" in america a massive inferno the unmanned delta two sored towards space. called the first of its kind the satellite is expected to blaze a new trail for environmental and weather research. and a massive inferno erupted from an apartment building under construction. quickly engulfed the structure before spreading to a nearby mobile home park. firefighters put out the fire but stayed on the scene to douse hot spots. a photographer snapped a once in a lifetime photo in the waters off california. the amazing image of a kayaker's close encounter with two hump humpback whales was captured through the lens of a photographer taking photos for a santa cruz campaign. thrilling for the photographer and a great keepsake for the

kayaker. a texas couple became the saving grace for a flock of hummingbirds. they waited out a wild fire is and they captured rare photos of hummingbird swarming the bird feeder. despite the dangers of the fire, the couple went out of their way to purchase water, sugar and an additional bird feeders. now for a look at national and regional weather. we can't even talk about the humming birds because there is so much going on in your world. >> interest forecast around the country. a lot like winter. snow in texas, snow in colorado a couple day ace go and now snow headed for the east coast. it has been a wild late october weather pattern more like december. the exception is now in the west. that's where the high pressure has built in. the next storm system is blowing into british columbia. we will some issues in the

extreme northwest. the next significant snow event from outside of dc to baltimore and philly is now located down here in arkansas, near memphis. as far as the west goes there is nothing at all going. high pressure covers much of the west. a little bit of rain in the pacific northwest. a little bit of a warm front and then the cold front. california south wards, you are fine. from portland north you will have to deal with a little bit of rain. we are dry now and i think your morning commute will be dry. it does not look like the rain is going to be too heavy. the forecast for today, showery type weather as the front blows through. temperatures remaining on the cool side there. beautiful day today in arizona, vegas, all the way through much of california. 70 and sunny better front is go.

clouds and showers through the weekend. speaking of weekend, that forecast is coming up. >> october? already feels like december in some parts. >> looks like it will be an interesting late fall early winter. >> thank you. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. coming up, there will be a game snechb the world series.

good morning and welcome back to "early today."

here are some of your top headlines this morning. england's prescribe says the 16 commonwealth countries of which queen elizabeth is monarch have agreed to remove gender discrimination. meaning the first born of the newlyweds will some day be heir to the thrown. the republican-led house of representatives has announced it will be in session only 109 odays this next year, even less than the 127 days lawmakers worked this year. house loaders say member need more time in their district during election years while democrats counter it's too few days on the job during an economic crisis. the presidential campaign for texas governor rick perry hinted he may skip upcoming republican debates. the plan prompted criticism from gingrich and santorum saying it's a sign of weakness.

at least 1,000 people attended a candlelight vigil in oakland to honor an iraq war veteran who was injurily hurt. on thursday hospital officials and family members said 4-year-old former marine scott olsen was awake and lucid. an amazing recovery in turkey. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12208 after surging 339 points yesterday. the s&p jumped 42 points. the nasdaq spiked 87. taking a look at overseas trading this morning n tokyo the nikkei rose 123 points. in hong kong the hang seng climbed 330. a cloud lifted over wall street thursday as europe's plan to deal with debts and stocks and a new-found optimism

soaring. all 30 stocks closed rising above 120 for the first time. all sectors on the s&p rose with that index back to positive for the year. wall street's so-called fear index fell a whopping 14%. sparkling economic data pumped up investors. the economy grew at its fastest time of the year. financial jpmorgan chase, citigroup and bank of america led stocks higher. commodity companies and others doesn't end on a strong economy jump. oil zoomed $94 a barrel. earnings continued to be strong. exxonmobil rose on a spike in profit. occidental petroleum jumped on a surge in income.

dow chemical was up, thanks to latin american sales growth. sit rick system soared on higher revenue and a brighter forecast. after the bell, met life topped forecasts on earnings. overnight. avon tumbled 18% on news the government is investigating contacts with financial analysts and suspected bribery. hewlett-packard's meg whitman ditched the previous ceo plans to spin off personal computer unit. and facebook building its first non-american data in sweden. the world series was never more seesaw than last night's game six. coming up, the cardinals' cardiac comeback that led to tonight's electrifying game seven finale in st. louis. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. instead of a trick-or-treat forecast we're talking about winter storm on saturday. the forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you are just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, regardless of what happens tonight in game seven of the world series, last night's prosecute performance by the st. louis cardinals in game six will go down as one for the ages. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports

headlines. >> good morning. whether you're a die-hard or a casual fan, whether you like the texas rangers, st. louis cardinals or you don't, game six of the world series is what baseball should be. it was dramatic. it was heart-stopping. it was extra innings. it was one for the ages. pick it up in the seventh, rangers and cards tied 4-4. adrian beltre, a solo shot to right center. texas up and one judge just getting started. nelson cruz belted one out, do back home run for texas, add another and lead 7-4. then the game got real pun in the ninth, rangers up 7-5. one out away from winning the world series. two aboard for david freese. texas fans hold that champagne. ripped a triple over cruz's head. in came a pair. busch stadium exploded and the

cards tied the game 7-7. on to extras in the tenth, josh hamilton nursing a sore groin took motte deep. rangers back in control 9-7. the pesky cards wouldn't go away. bottom ten, down one, lance berkman slapped a single up the middle. jon jay scored. another tie game. and they were knotted 9-9. only one way to cap off a game like this, how about a walkoff home run? david freese came through in the clutch once again 37. a solo shot to dead center in the 11th. can you believe it? cards rally to win 10-9 and force a game seven tonight at 8 p.m. eastern. >> we just kept battling. that defines our team. you know, that game, the way we kept coming back and we've been doing that for, you know, a long time. it's incredible to be a part of this. >> that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. experts think there is a sure-fire winner this weekend at the box office. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, we'd all love to be

invited to a state dinner with the president. it was a lot more addressed down but we'll show you how four lucky supporters got to hang out with the commander in chief. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this friday morning. nice simple forecast. a storm system is dragging a front through and that will bring some showers with it. san francisco, san jose, la, all

the way to the desert southwest, everywhere, looking great today. no problems at all. into saturday it looks nice in most of the areas. portland, you are okay. still some showers. pacific northwest, you are the exception this weekend. if you are watching us on knbc in los angeles, see original drawing drawings at year of the rabbit at the japanese american national museum. that's your pacific event of the day. >> if you have nice weather, go see it. >> something different. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. opening films will make a slash in theaters this weekend including one tabbed by experts to take the top spot. the family film with the shrek 2 spinoff character "puss and boots 3d" is expected to claw its way to the top spot in the box office. a justin timberlake sci-fi

thriller "in time" where people can pay to stop aging when they reach 25 years of old will reach third. johnny depp starring in his second adaptation of a hunter s. thompson novel "the rum diary" expected to debut in fourth channel. the fx channel says it's acquired "anger management" and will start airing the show next summer. finally, the guinness book of world records has declared samuel l. jackson the highest grossing movie actor of all time. i told you wouldn't have guessed that, bill. his star wars role, a part in jurassic park and appearing in two iron men film add up to pretty big bucks. >> he may not have made the most money himself but the movies he was in -- i mean, he's been in a ton of stuff. >> smart supporting role. >> star wars alone. >> yeah.

this comes to us from arlington, virginia, where a few lucky campaign contributors got the rare opportunity to break bread with the president. a retired teacher, a retired professor, a postal service worker and a business owner were the winners of the dinner with barack contest. all from potential battleground states, randomly selected after donating at least $5. reporters briefly allowed into the liberty tavern before dinner, heard the president talking baseball with his guests. i'm vinita nair and this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

an ancient festival in central india is drawing plenty of attention. thousands turned out to watch or take part in the tradition. the goal is to make each other believe and then offer the blood to a hindu goddess. strange as it may seem, the custom was begun with a queen. the festival ends when the two sides drop their rocks, shake hands and nurse each other's wounds. if diamonds are a girl's best friend then canada has a friend like no other. a 50 carat diamond set to go on auction with an estimated value of $10 million. the monster rock, nearly as wide as a dollar coin, is the largest ever to be sold in canada. a belgium owner says he is selling it due to the slumping economy. the latest stars on stage in japan don't actually exist. these concert headliners are completely computer-generated.

although they can't be seen live, the characters can be integrated into a video performance and interact with dancers on stage and the audience. the characters, who are nationwide stars, originally natured in a popular voice synthesizing program. the bright side is no rehab, no high demands. >> no, not at all. i mean, i think i'd sound good if i could get my voice synthesized and reverberations. >> you and me both. it's time now for an early look at some stories we'll follow throughout the day right here on nbc. in maryland, the new hampshire engineer who was rescued from the south pole after suffering an apparent stroke will be joined by her doctors at a news conference. despite her rescue from a research station being delayed by two months, she is expected to recover. events will mark the 125th anniversary of the statue of liberty's dedication. sigourney weaver will read a poem, ken salazar will present gifts, and lady liberty's new torch cam will go live. fireworks cap off evening.

bill gates turns 56. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news". finally, here's a look at what is coming up later this morning on the "today" show. cnbc jim cramer weighs in on the debt breakthrough in europe and the long run markets impact may have here at home. today at the rink kicks off with a special performance by olympic gold medalist scott hamilton. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm vinita nair. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.