high hopes for the holidays? americans could finally be seeing some relief from the pain of high prices as inflation cools off. nicole carved a path of destruction along the florida coast. now the storm is churning off the east we're following its path the life-saving performance on this one month old baby who lost consciousness from rsv. plus the fight on the virus. the discovery on the ocean

floor nearly 40 years after the challenger disaster. answering the call of duty, the troops serving the country in a whole new way "early today" starts right now good to be with you at the end of the week. i'm frances rivera >> i'm phillip mena. some local news ahead of the holiday shopping season, a sign that inflation is finally cooling off. wall street cheered the news with the biggest rally in two years. the dow was up over 1200 points, while the nasdaq soared over 7% higher emily ikeda has more >> reporter: while prices remain painful for many american families, early signs inflation may have finally peaked. year-over-year it dipped in october for the first time since february it's welcome news for investors who sent markets soaring on hopes the fed will slow its pace

of interest rate hikes >> the markets thought they saw a big green light to go buy stocks they love this report coming in lower than expected. >> reporter: president biden also bull, saying the numbers are proof his plan is working. >> main stream economiers are saying this is a sign of the economic recovery. >> reporter: but it's still well above the fed's desired rate of 2% is today enough to change the fed's thinking >> it's not enough to change the fed's thinking what it is enough to do is start a countdown. >> reporter: with thanksgiving exactly two weeks away, holiday budgets are still stretched thint thin by the essentials it's the largest increase in four decades with one in three americans cutting back on holiday spending due to inflation, long-term

diner owner is worried >> this past two months or so, egg, $1.50 or so for a dozen and they peaked at $4.20 or $4.25. we're changing the menu weekly, which is something we used to do annually >> our thanks to emily for that report >> it is still unclear this morning what the balance of power will be in congress. control of the senate is still up for grabs each party needs to win two out of the three uncalled races. the latest nbc news decision desk estimate for the house shows republicans with a slight lead with the margin of error is plus or my noinus seven meaning the chamber is still a tossup as well the close governor's race in sarz arizona is still too early to

call >> reporter: officials in arizona counting balance with control of congress still unclear. three senate seats undecided incumbent democrat senator mark kelly ahead in arizona in nevada, adam laxalt with the lead and in january the runoff campaign has begun between rafael warnock. >> are you ready to do theiis oe more time? >> reporter: and republican herschel walker. >> we're in a tiebreaker that's why i'm saying i'm not giving a seat up >> reporter: the runoff scheduled for december 6 after form president trump was expected to announce his presidential run some top trump viadvisors are urging him to delay t but it, bt trump said we had tremendous

success. why would we detlay it one trump-endorsed candidate, j.d. vance, says mr. trump remains the most popular figure in the republican party. republicans are still favored to take over the house, touting some big wins, including inroads with latinos monica de la cruz becoming the first republican to win her heavily latino texas border district and victories in deep blue new york, including republican mike lawler who beat top democrat sean patrick maloney, lawler saying rps should move on from former president trump. >> i think moving in a different direction as we move forward is a good thing >> our thanks to kristin for that report. some breaking new this is morning. a federal judge in texas has further halted president biden's student debt relief program, declaring it unlawful. the plan had already been temporarily put on hold by a court in missouri.

but now a trump-appointed judge in ft. worth has thrown another legal hurdle at the policy back in august the president announced the plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for tens of tens of millions of americans. the white house says the justice department will appeal it. in missouri, two officers are hailed as heroes after saving the life of a month-old baby after it stopped breathing. the baby was sick with rsv and was unresponsive maggie vespa has more on that. >> reporter: the fight to curb a new viral surge, serving pandemic flashbacks in st. louis. you feel like people remember this routine from peak covid time >> i do, yeah. absolutely >> reporter: missouri officials launching drive-through test sites for covid, the flu and rsv, the soen had called tr triple-demic, taking early aim

at children. these testing sites expected to stay open through the winter the cdc reporting flu cases are ticking up with 6500 patients admitted to hospitals this week and three pediatric deaths some hospitals forced to postpone certain surgeries, while in arizona 100% of children's hospital beds are full >> we're seeing the peak in rsv right now related to the fact that they've been isolated for a year and a half, and now all of them are exposed all at once the same will happen with adults and flu. >> reporter: last week, body cameras rolling, kansas city police officer performing life-saving cpr on a one month old who had stopped breathing. after a week in the hospital, baby kamiyah is home safe. >> to know that she's doing better is awesome. >> reporter: one family out of

the woods as a dangerous cold and flu season looms maggie ves ppa, nbc news houses in florida toppled into the ocean as the ground below gave way orange county officials say at least two people were killed after they were electrocuted by a downed power line. jay gray has more from jensen beach. >> reporter: crashing the shoreline in the early morning hours, hurricane nicole continuing a violent attack that began long before landfall for the better part of a full 24 hours, the massive system unleashing strong winds, rain, the storm surge in some areas as much as six feet, chewing away protective sand dunes, erosion started by hurricane ian, made much worse by nicole the water rushing across roads and into homes and businesses. sea walls crumbling, structures, too. others dangling near the water's

edge >> mother nature's unbelievable >> reporter: by the afternoon in jensen beach, sunshine with patchy clouds. the heavy surf here the only reminder of the storm. it. >> we have about another tidal cycle or two until we should see things back to normal. >> reporter: as normal as things can be in the wake of back-to-back storms. jay gray, nbc news, jensen beach, florida >> and we're still watching it for more on nicole's path, let's bring in michelle grossmann. hi, michelle >> hi there, guys. we're going to watch nicole today and tomorrow as it exits into canada. we're still seeing winds at 35 miles per hour we've seen rain stretching from the mid atlantic from the southeast and heavy rain where you see the brighter colors is where we're seeing the heaviest rain falling.

it's moving quickly, that is the good news. tornado risk today