JIM LEHRER: Stock markets today finished a great week and a terrible month. They rallied across Asia and Europe, and Wall Street followed suit.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 144 points to close at 9,325. The Nasdaq rose 22 points to close near 1,721. Both indexes were up 11 percent for the week. Overall, the Dow had its best week since 1974 and its worst month since 1987.
The latest economic data underscored today that consumers have cut back. The Commerce Department reported consumer spending dropped 0.3 percent in September, the most since 2004.
And the Labor Department found wages and benefits rose only modestly in the third quarter, keeping inflation in check.
A leading House Democrat warned banks today not to use federal rescue funds to pay dividends. Congressman Barney Frank chairs the House Financial Services Committee. He said rescue money is for lending, and he warned banks, "Any use of these funds for any purpose other than lending is a violation of the terms of the act."
The presidential candidates headed into the final weekend of the campaign today. Democrat Barack Obama was back where it all started, in Iowa. He charged Republican John McCain has abandoned the high road.
McCain stayed in Ohio for a second day. He charged Obama is from the "liberal left lane of politics." We'll have more on the campaign later in the program tonight.
Thousands of refugees tried to head home across eastern Congo today. The reverse migration came as a tense cease-fire held between rebel forces and the Congolese government.
We have a report from Martin Geissler of Independent Television News.
MARTIN GEISSLER: It is a crisis that's threatening to become a catastrophe. Carrying what they can, thousands of Congolese are on the move tonight, fleeing a conflict that spread across the region, but there's nowhere safe for them to go.
Thousands more have set up camp in Goma, trapped and terrified in a city surrounded by rebels and patrolled by squads of drunk soldiers said to be raping and killing at will.
WITNESS: (inaudible) confusion, you know, women, children running up and down the streets here, trying to get out of here.
MARTIN GEISSLER: The rebel forces called a cease-fire to let the people return to their rural homes, but when they started the journey, some claimed they were shot at. Now they're heading back to a city already full to bursting, with dwindling supplies of shelter, food and water.
The lucky ones are too young to know what's happening. Many of the international aid agencies have pulled their staff out of the country, so there's little chance of help arriving soon.
The rebels are camped nine miles outside Goma. Tonight, the cease-fire there seems to be holding, but there have been reports of refugee camps in Rutshuru, 50 miles north of the city, being looted and burned to the ground, forcing tens of thousands who were living there to flee into the bush.
KEVIN KENNEDY, United Nations spokesman: We are in a situation where essentially we are at a hair-trigger, that any incident ultimately could trigger a much larger problem.
MARTIN GEISSLER: This complex conflict has its roots in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, is an ethnic Tutsi. He says he's fighting to protect his tribespeople from Hutu militias in the region and the government forces he claims are backing them.
No one here needs to be reminded of the tensions this conflict is stirring up or the catastrophic consequences an escalation in the violence could produce.
JIM LEHRER: U.S. and U.N. envoys flew into Goma today, and the European Union decided against deploying military forces to the conflict zone. Member states will focus on diplomacy and humanitarian aid instead.
Intelligence officials in Pakistan today reported U.S. missile attacks on two villages. They said 27 people were killed, including a mid-level al-Qaida leader and other foreign fighters. The targets were in two regions along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The U.S. has launched at least 17 missile attacks there since mid-August.
The man who led the U.S. military surge in Iraq formally took control of Central Command today. Army General David Petraeus will now oversee military operations throughout the Middle East.
Petraeus was installed at a ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. He told the audience, "The way ahead will be difficult." Petraeus takes his post as American deaths in Afghanistan have outpaced those in Iraq.
In October, 15 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan; at least 13 Americans died in Iraq. Both numbers were down from September.
Studs Terkel, the author and radio broadcaster, died at his home in Chicago today. His radio work ranged from soap operas to news to sports and earned him a vast and loyal audience.
Terkel wrote a series of oral history books covering the Great Depression and race relations, among other subjects. And in 1985, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his remembrances of World War II in the book "The Good War." Studs Terkel was 96 years old, and we'll have more on him at the end of the program tonight.
