White House: Ferguson no-fly didn't restrict press

WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday a no-fly zone the U.S. government imposed over Ferguson, Missouri, for nearly two weeks in August should not have restricted helicopters for news organizations that wanted to operate in the area to cover violent protests there.

Audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press showed the Federal Aviation Administration working with local authorities to define a 37-square-mile flight restriction so that only police helicopters and commercial flights could fly through the area, following demonstrations over the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The Obama administration's defense of its actions centered on a provision of obscure federal regulations intended to allow press flights as long as they meet certain conditions. White House spokesman Josh Earnest sidestepped questions about conversations on the tapes showing police working with the FAA to keep media away.

"In this case, what the FAA says is that they took the prudent step of implementing the temporary flight restriction in the immediate aftermath of reports of shots fired at a police helicopter, but within 12 to 14 hours, that flight restriction was updated in a way to remove restrictions for reporters who were seeking to operate in the area," Earnest said.

In Missouri, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar defended his department's involvement Monday, telling reporters that "at no time did we request that only media be kept out of the airspace." The chief said the safety restrictions were prompted by reports of gunfire and that conversations on the tapes were "out of context." He did not elaborate.

On the tapes, an FAA manager is heard assuring a St. Louis County Police Department official that the updated restrictions would allow planes to land at nearby Lambert-St. Louis International Airport but, "It will still keep news people out. ... The only way people will get in there is if they give them permission in there anyway so ... it still keeps all of them out."

"Yeah," replied a county police captain. "I have no problem with that whatsoever."

The disclosures about the secret motivations by local police to keep press flights away emerged during a sensitive time in Ferguson, which is awaiting a decision by a grand jury whether a city police officer, Darren Wilson, will face criminal charges for fatally shooting Brown on Aug. 9. Violence flared for weeks across the city through September, and the FAA put the first temporary flight restrictions, known as TFRs, in place on Aug. 11.

The police chief said the FAA contacted police first about restricting flights. The audio recordings between the department and the FAA indicated it was the police who wanted the restrictions — and that FAA officials accommodated them.

"Were you the gentleman I spoke to that actually issued the TFR?" the FAA manager asked. "Yes," the police captain replied.

Elsewhere in the tapes, one FAA manager talks to another about renegotiating with police over the size of the restricted area and persuading authorities to accept one with a lower altitude than they initially wanted.

Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday the Justice Department was not involved in the FAA considerations and said the American public needs to understand what is happening in Ferguson.

"Anything that would artificially inhibit the ability of newsgatherers to do what they do is something I think needs to be avoided," Holder said Monday.

A spokesman for Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the FAA should impose flight restrictions "for one reason and one reason only: public safety." Her office will follow up with the FAA "to ensure that was the basis on which these restrictions were imposed," said the spokesman, John LaBombard.

At the White House, Earnest stressed that under FAA rules the no-fly zone as it was re-designated after Aug. 12 would have exempted press flights as long as pilots had filed flight plans and carried accredited reporters on board.

"The updated flight restriction didn't have any impact on media access."

But the administration's statement about what it believes should have happened under the no-fly rules is inconsistent with what actually happened during the period. None of the St. Louis television stations was advised that media helicopters could enter the airspace even under the lesser restrictions, even under federal rules that would have permitted flights "carrying properly accredited news representatives." The FAA's no-fly notice indicated the area was closed to all aircraft except police and planes coming to and from the airport.

"Only relief aircraft operations under direction of St. Louis County Police Department are authorized in the airspace," it said. "Aircraft landing and departing St. Louis Lambert Airport are exempt."

The Obama administration has said it was unaware of any news organization's complaining about the restrictions.

"To the best of our knowledge, during the 11-day period flight restrictions of varying levels were in place, no media outlets objected to any of the restrictions," FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta said in a statement.

Yet news organizations have broadly protested — almost always in vain — temporary flight restrictions the FAA has imposed in recent years across the country at the request of local police, said Mike Cavender, executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Association, a trade group for broadcasters. TV stations have complained that police ask for temporary flight restrictions without justification and the FAA approves them too readily without scrutiny.

"Our concern, based on what we were hearing from stations, is that it was kind of, 'Put a TFR in place and ask questions later,'" Cavender said. "There was certainly not the justification for a flight restriction that there ought to have been."

The RTNDA, which formally complained Monday to the FAA, said broadcasters in St. Louis were complaining to it during the period, even if they were no longer registering formal complaints with the FAA.

"We certainly, during that time, certainly heard either directly or anecdotally that the television stations in general in St. Louis were hampered," Cavender said. The group's complaint to the FAA said the restrictions were intended to "repress the media coverage" and called the FAA's response to the AP's report "disingenuous."

"We are sorely disappointed that, to this day, officials including those at the FAA continue to maintain their actions were necessary and appropriate to preserve safety and security," the complaint said.

Around the same time as the violence, the National Press Photographers Association, another journalism trade group, complained to the police chief in Ferguson about the department's "complete lack of understanding and respect for the First Amendment." That followed the no-fly restrictions and the arrest and detention of journalists on the ground covering the violence there.

The AP obtained the recordings under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act after asking for the information roughly 10 weeks ago.

"They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out," one FAA manager said about the county police on the tapes. "But they were a little concerned of, obviously, anything else that could be going on."

At another point, a manager at the FAA's Kansas City center said police "did not care if you ran commercial traffic through this TFR all day long. They didn't want media in there."

The conversations contradict claims by the St. Louis county police, which said the restrictions had nothing to do with limiting the press and instead were imposed because of gunshots fired at a police helicopter. But county police officials told the AP recently there was no damage to their helicopter because of the gunshots, which an FAA manager called unconfirmed "rumors."

The restricted flight zone initially encompassed airspace in a 3.4-mile radius around Ferguson and up to 5,000 feet in altitude, but police agreed Aug. 12 to reduce it to 3,000 feet after the FAA's command center in Warrenton, Virginia, complained to managers in Kansas City that it was impeding traffic into St. Louis.

The flight restrictions remained in place until Aug. 22, FAA records show.

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Associated Press writer Alan Scher Zagier in St. Louis contributed to this report.

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On Twitter, follow Jack Gillum at https://twitter.com/jackgillum and Joan Lowy at https://twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

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European shares rise, Japan's Nikkei extends gains

TOKYO — European shares mostly rose Tuesday on expectations for strong corporate earnings. Japan's stock benchmark ceded some of its early gains to close 2.7 percent higher, while other Asian markets had gains and losses.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, quarterly earnings from BMW largely met expectations and the automaker maintained its forecast for profit growth for the full year. Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent to 9,292.65 while France's CAC-40 added 0.1 percent to 4199.71. Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.1 percent higher at 6,493.46. Wall Street was poised for modest gains at the open, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both up 0.1 percent.

JAPAN'S STIMULUS: Investors continue to rejoice over the double-barreled barrage of stimulus unleashed on Friday. The Bank of Japan's decision to boost asset purchases will raise the amount of money being injected into the economy annually to about 80 trillion yen ($704 billion). Apart from that, the public pension fund is to pare its bond holdings and raise its investments in shares, to help improve the returns it is relying on to meet growing payout obligations.

CHINA'S SHADOW: A lower-than-expected gauge of Chinese manufacturing released by a government-sanctioned industry group has revived fears that growth in the world's second-largest economy will decline further.

THE QUOTE: "There may be some nervousness about the slowdown in China but now data suggests growth is stabilizing," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities. While a trend toward a weaker yen and stronger U.S. dollar can be bad news for many regional markets, it tends to attract funds into Hong Kong's share market, he said.

ASIA'S DAY: The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo jumped 4.1 percent early in the session but struggled to hold onto those gains, eventually ending up 2.7 percent at 16,862.47 in its first trading day since Japan announced the new measures Friday to boost faltering economic growth. The market was closed Monday for a holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.3 percent to 23,845.66 while South Korea's Kospi was 0.9 percent lower at 1,935.19. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2 percent to 5,519.9. Southeast Asian markets were mixed.

CURRENCIES: The dollar was up and down against the yen in volatile trading following the BOJ stimulus announcement and rose to 113.72 yen by late afternoon from 113.59 yen late Monday. That puts the yen near a seven-year low. The euro rose to $1.2506 from $1.2504.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil was down $1.49 cents to $77.30 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell $1.76 to close at $78.78 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped $1.45 cents to $83.33.

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Softbank quarterly profit up despite Sprint woes

TOKYO — Softbank's quarterly profit nearly tripled as gains from the IPO of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba offset losses at U.S. mobile carrier Sprint.

The Japanese telecommunications and Internet-services company reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of 483.1 billion yen ($4.3 billion), up from 165.8 billion yen a year earlier. Quarterly sales surged 23 percent to 2.11 trillion yen ($18.7 billion).

Softbank, the first to sell the iPhone in Japan, has widespread global investments including Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, which listed in New York earlier this year after a record-busting stock sale. Softbank said it gained 599 billion yen ($5 billion) from the listing.

One sore spot is Sprint, which Softbank bought a majority stake in earlier this year. It said costs from layoffs at Sprint will total 17 billion yen ($150 million). Sprint is eliminating 2,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its staff, to cut $1.5 billion in annual spending.

Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, which announced a separate round of job cuts in early October, reported a $765 million loss for the quarter. But Softbank is eyeing Sprint as a long-term investment.

"We are heading toward a turnaround," said Softbank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son. Sprint's new chief executive, Marcelo Claure, tapped from cellphone distributor and Softbank unit Brightstar, was making progress, he said.

Son said Alibaba is reporting solid growth in profits, rising from its humble beginnings when he invested in it about 14 years ago to become one of the biggest companies in the world by market capitalization.

He compared his investment approach to valuing, instead of killing, the goose that lays golden eggs, but warned that patience was needed.

"I've long said that whoever rules China will rule the world," he said. China has overtaken Japan as the world's second biggest economy and will in the future grow bigger than the American economy, Son said.

But he said the place to watch next is India, where the population is young, English-speaking and boasts excellent software engineers, praising Snapdeal as India's equivalent of Alibaba.

The Tokyo-based company, which also owns the Softbank Hawks baseball team, recently invested in two Indian technology companies, Snapdeal, the nation's largest digital marketplace, and Ola Cabs, which runs the technology to connect consumers with cab drivers in India.

Another company in which Softbank is a stakeholder, Yahoo Japan, has switched its electronic commerce style to more like Alibaba's, a move that has proved a success, he said.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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Skip check-in; latest hotel room key is your phone

NEW YORK — Hotels don't want guests to have to linger at the front desk — or even stop by at all.

New programs are helping speed up the check-in process for busy travelers, or in at least one case, letting them go straight to their rooms by using their smartphone to unlock doors.

The innovations are still being tweaked as hotels scramble to catch up to airlines. Fliers today use their phones to check in, select seats and as a boarding pass. Hotels envision a similar relationship, with guests ultimately ordering poolside drinks via an app.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts on Monday became the first chain to let guests unlock doors with their phones. The feature is available at only 10 Aloft, Element and W hotels but will expand to 140 more properties in those brands by the middle of next year.

Hilton Worldwide is the only other hotel chain to publicly acknowledge plans for mobile room keys — which it plans to roll out at the end of 2015 at some U.S. properties. Hilton won't say how many hotels will be included, except that the service will be available at four of its brands, Hilton, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and Canopy.

"Guests want this because it makes their lives simpler," says Mark Vondrasek, who oversees the loyalty program and digital initiatives for Starwood. "The ability to go right to your room, gives them back time."

Other hotel companies are finding other ways to streamline the arrival process.

Marriott International launched the ability to check in through its app at 330 North American hotels last year. By the end of this year, the program will be live at all 4,000 hotels worldwide. When a room becomes available, a message is sent to the guest's phone. Traditional room keys are pre-programmed and waiting at the front desk. A special express line allows guests to bypass crowds, flash their IDs and get keys.

At Hilton, all 4,000 properties worldwide will have a similar check-in by the end of the year. The one added feature: Guests can use maps on the app to select a specific room.

InterContinental Hotels Group is testing express check-in at 60 hotels.

The services are geared toward road warriors who don't want to slow down, even for a second. Guests who like personal interaction can still opt for a more leisurely check-in, and hotel companies say the move isn't about cutting jobs.

"If you're at the end of a long day, you might want a little less of a chatty experience. But if you're showing up at a new resort, you may want to know what the pool hours are," says Brett Cowell, vice president of information technology for Hyatt, which is testing permanent keys for frequent guests at six hotels.

The push isn't just about avoiding frustrating check-in lines. Hotels are trying to get more travelers comfortable using their mobile apps to interact. In some cases, that means using an iPad to request a wakeup call. But ultimately hotels would like to see people purchasing suite upgrades, spa treatments and room service though their phones and tablets — and at some point wearable devices like smartwatches.

Marriott guests made $1.25 billion in bookings last year through its mobile app, according to George Corbin, senior vice president of digital for the company.

Switching to smartphone room keys won't be easy. Starwood's app communicates using a Bluetooth data connection. Each hotel room needs to have a new lock that can communicate with phones.

The top 15 hotel companies have more than 42,000 properties worldwide with a combined 5.2 million rooms, according to travel research firms STR and STR Global. Many hotels have made updates over the past few years, but they remain the minority.

Then there is the issue of security. If there is knock on the door late at night and a guest goes to the peephole to see who is there, nobody wants the phone in their pocket to accidently unlock the door. That's why Starwood requires the phone to actually touch a pad on the outside of the door to open it.

Finally, only one phone can be linked to a room at a time. So if two people are staying in the room, they still need to get a traditional key for the second traveler.

Marriott says it is holding off on smartphone keys until all the potential bugs can be resolved.

"If there was ever a moment that matters," Corbin says, "it's the moment when you go up to your door and the key doesn't work."

But for the frequent business traveler, this might just be the time-saver they are looking for.

Bruce Craven spends about 100 nights a year on the road, traveling between his California home and New York where he does executive training programs and teaches at Columbia Business School. He's been testing Starwood's smartphone room key since March.

"If you're traveling all the time, little things can take on a symbolic importance," Craven says. "This is one less thing that I need to think about."

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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.

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Microsoft band is one to watch

Oh, how the tables of technology have turned now that Microsoft appears poised to have Apple playing catch-up in the smartwatch wars.

In a surprise debut, the Redmond, Wash.,-based software giant launched its first health-and-fitness wearable, the Microsoft Band, late last week, sending Windows fans into a tizzy. The band quickly sold out online and in stores, appearing to set the stage for a successful holiday sales season.

With a combination of strategic design, pricing and timing, Microsoft has a clever plan to grab a chunk of the would-be Apple Watch crowd. Apple's highly anticipated wearable won't launch until after the holidays, a rare exercise in poor timing by the Cupertino, Calif., trendsetters that Redmond has successfully exploited with the early launch.

The Microsoft Band is part of a large, ambitious vision for Microsoft to dominate the digital health landscape. Part of the new Microsoft Health Platform, the device features a GPS, a UV monitor to keep track of potential sun exposure, sleep sensors that detect the quality of your nightly rest and integration with popular fitness apps such as RunKeeper.

The emphasis on health tracking comes in addition to text message, email and other alerts that you'd expect from a smartphone-compatible band.

Priced at a reasonable $199, not only is the Microsoft Band $150 cheaper than the upcoming Apple Watch (which starts at $350 and up), it is also a cross-platform device: it works with Android, iPhones and of course Windows Phone, meaning that non-Windows Phone users are likely to get a taste of the software with this band. While the Apple Watch won't include a GPS or a UV monitor, it does offer the increasingly popular Apple Pay digital wallet platform, some cool new ways to communicate (it reportedly "taps" you to get your attention) and lots of sports and health-tracking functionality.

The Microsoft Band isn't a watch. That's key in understanding how it contrasts with Apple's wearable. With a variety of band options and styles, Apple's fitness-and-health device is meant to replace the watch you already wear (even though so few of us do), and also to be worn all the time. It doesn't look weird to wear the Microsoft Band at the same time as a watch, but you're not going to to be able to wear it to a formal event.

I'll have a more detailed review after wearing my new Microsoft Band this week, but at first blush it looks like Apple has some competition.

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Council to consider hiking relocation fees

The City Council will debate whether to further protect displaced renters whose units are being converted to high-priced condominiums or cooperatives by doubling the relocation fees that property owners are required to pay them.

Fees would increase from $5,000 to $10,000 for elderly, disabled and low-income tenants, and from $3,000 to $6,000 for others, to bring them in line with increased housing costs since their adoption in 2004, according to City Councilor Josh Zakim.

"It's really to protect long-term renters when a building is converted from rentals, which is happening more and more," Zakim said. "They haven't been raised in 10 years, and I think it's pretty clear that not only have housing costs in Boston risen dramatically in those last 10 years, but they've exceeded the rate of inflation."

One large Boston residential property owner, City Realty Group, says the proposed increases go too far. The company owns more than 600 residential units.

"The relocation fees have remained the same for a long time, and we feel that a moderate increase would be appropriate," said Matt Whitermore of City Realty. "Doubling the relocation fees does seem a bit excessive."

Zakim said the fees are not a "significant" cost for landlords, and the city wants to create housing opportunities for all residents — including those who have lived in units for years and can't pay $500,000 or more for a condo.

"The reason why the state Legislature authorized cities and towns to put (the fees) in is there is a crisis of affordable housing — that's clear," Zakim said. "We saw that from the mayor's release of his housing task force report and just what we hear from constituents and advocates every day."

Still, he said, the fees are only a small solution.

"Solving the housing crisis in Boston is going to take a lot more than this," Zakim said."

The ordinance, which exceeds state regulations, applies to properties with four or more units, and outlines the required notice to tenants. Adopted in 1999, it requires reauthorization by the Council every five years.

"The current legislation expires on Dec. 31, so if it's not reauthorized by then, these tenant protections will go away," Zakim said.

The council's Committee on Government Operations will hold a hearing on the issue on Thursday.

"There continues to be a need for this, because we continue to see clients that are faced with displacement — both with new situations that happen as well as people who were supposed to be protected by the law but had owners who were trying to get around the law," said Mac 
McCreight, a senior attorney in the housing unit at Greater Boston Legal Services, which worked with city councilors on the proposed revisions.

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Take your reputation with you to next job

A Boston company has launched a new social media site that allows users to review and recommend individual lawyers, hair stylists and other professionals — combining the popular elements of services such as Yelp and LinkedIn.

Dunwello, founded early this year, gives customers a chance to review specific employees, instead of the companies for which they work

"There's no clear place (right now) you can go and see what individual professionals are really great at," said Matt Lauzon, co-founder of Dunwello.

When people start a new job, Lauzon said, they have to start from scratch with online reviews while the old employer keeps the good ratings. With Dunwello, recommendations follow the employee, not the company.

"The individual's livelihood is based on their reputation, (but) when they're moving place to place, those reviews don't follow them," he said. "You don't have a portable reputation."

Lauzon said an increasing number of employees go from job to job, and are forced to carve out loyal customers from the beginning.

Dunwello users rate how likely they are to recommend the person to others, which adds up to an overall score. Only positive reviews show up, although every review is sent to the professional.

"We don't believe in public shaming," Lauzon said, adding that anyone can see a pro's overall score.

Dunwello is focusing on a few professions to start, including lawyers, hair stylists and personal trainers.

Dunwello has raised 
$1.4 million in venture financing. Lauzon also founded Gemvara, a company that offers custom jewelry online.

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Cos. step up to help displaced homeless

At 5 a.m. on Oct. 9, Mariann Bucina Roca checked her email and found an urgent plea for help from Boston Public Health Commission Homeless Services: The previous day, the Long Island bridge had been shut down for safety reasons, forcing the evacuation of about 700 homeless people, recovering addicts and troubled teens, who left, literally, with only the clothes on their backs.

"All we knew was this really traumatic thing had just happened to hundreds of people," said Bucina Roca, executive director of Friends of Boston's Homeless. "Clean underwear, socks, toothbrushes — all that was left behind. So we were like, OK, we've got to get moving."

And that is when the Boston business community began stepping up.

Friends' staff of two immediately began making calls to their longtime donors, businesses including Charles River Apparel in Sharon, which began packing 75 boxes with about $25,000 worth of outerwear, sweatshirts, polo shirts and other clothes.

"As a family, we very much want to give back, and this was an emergency," said Deb Lipsett, the company's director of community partnerships. "To think that these people were being displaced again, without any notice, and couldn't return — it's heartbreaking."

Goodwin Graphics in Cohasset donated more than 200 pairs of socks.

"For the last few years, we've gone to the fundraiser the Friends of Boston's Homeless holds every year on Long Island, but when we found out the bridge was closed, I was thinking: I've got to do something more impactful," said owner Ron Goodwin. "For every homeless person, there's a story that goes with them. Any one of us could be that person on the street."

TD Garden, Liberty Mutual and Eastern Bank each gave money. Stacy's Pita Chip Co. donated healthy snacks. And Dependable Cleaners has been doing laundry weekly for about 50 people who were in transitional programs on Long Island.

"I've never seen a community come together in such a united way," said Beth Grand, bureau director for Boston Public Health Commission Homeless Services. "And to see the impact on our clients — they are very appreciative of what everyone's done to help them through this."

The agency has managed to find temporary shelter for all of the people who were displaced and is working with Mayor Martin J. Walsh to find more permanent housing.

"These are people who've earned the right to move into permanent housing," said John Rosenthal, founder and chairman of Friends of Boston's Homeless.

Other critical needs remain, including toiletries, coats and underwear; new men's sweatshirts and hoodies; new hats, gloves, scarves and socks; duffel bags and backpacks; packaged food such as Ensure for the elderly and granola bars, as well as decks of cards, dominoes, and museum or movie passes.

"A lot of it," Bucina Roca said, "is just providing comfort at a time of incredible stress."

To help, visit the Friends' Web site at www.fobh.org, or call (617) 942-8671.

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Boston eyes next-gen networks

Boston is teaming up with more than two dozen other cities across the country to tackle one of the most complex infrastructure questions of the century: how to ensure the next-generation Internet connectivity that will be crucial for civic success.

"Where we stand today does not represent a network that is going to carry us and our many industries ... into the next few decades of the century," said Jascha Franklin-Hodge, chief information officer for the city of Boston.

Next Century Cities, a group of 31 cities across the country that are in the process of upgrading their internet infrastructure, is a collaborative organization that will meet regularly to discuss challenges and progress.

"The goal is to help a number of cities that already have interesting initiatives have better access and collaborate and learn from each other," said Chris Mitchell, policy director for Next Century Cities. "Having them all together makes it easier."

The networks of the future will need to be so-called gigabit networks, capable of speeds dramatically higher than a majority of today's networks.

"Twenty years from now, people are going to need gigabit connectivity," Franklin-Hodge said.

There is no specific plan in place to improve Boston's internet infrastructure, but the city is working to put one in place, he said.

"We're working hard to identify what options we have, there's a sense of urgency about this," he said. "There are so many different models, and there are people trying things all over the country that may be the right fit for Boston."

The Next Century Cities collaboration is intended to help guide Boston.

The city has been plagued by slow internet access for years — blamed in part on Verizon's refusal to build its FiOS network in the city as well as the infrastructure challenges that any old city faces.

The problems have been especially pronounced in the Innovation District.

And Boston's specialized industries require a high-quality network more than many cities, said Blair Levin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy program and a former chief of staff for former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.

"Boston has enormous strength in institutions of higher education, healthcare, and finance, and technology," he said. "Those are all going to require huge bandwidth."

But any network built by the city or a private company will have to take into account some unique qualities when designing its next-generation network, he said.

"The great disadvantage for Boston is that it's an old city, which increases the cost of construction," he said. "The advantage that Boston has is that it has a number of institutions ... if those folks all aggregate their buying power ... they can change the economics of deployment."

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US stocks end a turbulent month at a record high

NEW YORK — For stock investors, there was no shortage of drama in October.

Stocks started the month modestly below a record high, only to cascade to their worst slump in two years. But after flirting with a correction, or a 10 percent drop, the U.S. market rebounded and closed at all-time highs on the last day of the month.

All told, U.S. stocks ended October solidly higher, up 2.3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average capped the rally by rising 195.10 points, or 1.1 percent, to end at 17,390.52 on Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 23.40 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,018.05 and the Nasdaq composite added 64.60 points, or 1.4 percent, to 4,630.74.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs.

It's a remarkable turn given the month's volatility, which at times approached levels from the 2008 financial crisis. Then again, the month has an unfortunate history for unsettling moves, such as the stock market crashes of 1929 and 1987.

This October, the market's seesaw path was driven by fears that Europe's economy was slipping back into a recession, worries about plunging oil prices and concerns of possible weakness in the U.S. economy. Oh, and don't forget Ebola. Those anxieties sent the market, for the most part, straight down for two weeks.

The nadir came on Oct. 15, when the S&P 500 came with a hair's breadth of going into a correction. Investors had suspected such a drop. The last one occurred in late 2011, and historically corrections happen every 18 months or so.

But just after the market came close to going into a correction, it bounced right back. Strong U.S. corporate earnings were the primary driver of the rebound as well as signs that central banks in Japan and Europe were going to do all they could to stop their economies from dragging everyone else down with them.

"I don't think it's a surprise that we came close to a correction. We've been expecting one for a while. I think the bigger surprise has been how we rip-roared all the way back up," said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management. "When you hit someone over their head with a hammer, you don't expect them to get up immediately."

U.S. companies have been, for the most part, reporting strong quarterly results the last two weeks. Corporate profits are up 7.3 percent from a year ago, according to FactSet, compared with the 4.5 percent investors had expected at the beginning of the month. And any worries about the U.S. economy earlier in the month evaporated as the data rolled in, mostly recently Thursday's data showing the U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace last quarter.

Friday's gains were driven by the Bank of Japan, which surprised investors by announcing it would increase its bond and asset purchases by 10 trillion yen to 20 trillion yen ($90.7 billion to $181.3 billion) to about 80 trillion yen ($725 billion) annually. The announcement came after data showed that the world's third-largest economy remains in the doldrums, with household spending dropping and unemployment ticking up.

Japan's move comes only two days after the U.S. Federal Reserve brought an end to its own bond-buying program. Investors have been hopeful that the European Central Bank might also start buying bonds to stimulate that region's economy by keeping interest rates low and injecting cash into the financial system. That form of stimulus is called quantitative easing, also known among investors as "QE."

"The Japanese central bank has taken the QE baton from the Fed, and equity traders couldn't be happier," said David Madden, market analyst at IG.

Japan's stock market rose 4.8 percent to the highest level since 2007.

The Japanese currency weakened dramatically following the Bank of Japan's announcement. The yen slumped 2.6 percent against the dollar to 112 yen. The yen is trading at the lowest level in more than five years. Japanese companies typically like a weak Japanese yen because it makes their exported goods cheaper abroad.

European stock markets rose broadly following the Bank of Japan's announcement on hopes that the ECB could be tempted to follow Japan's lead in stepping up stimulus measures. However, few think anything will be announced at the ECB's next policy meeting next Thursday.

"The willingness of the Bank of Japan to ease further in the fight against deflation will encourage those who think the ECB should be doing the same," said Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics.

Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent. France's CAC 40 jumped 2.2 percent and Germany's DAX climbed 2.3 percent.

In other markets, the price of U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 58 cents to $80.54 a barrel in New York as increasing production from OPEC members added to already high global supplies of oil.

Brent crude, used to price oil in international markets, dipped 38 cents to $85.86 in London. In other energy futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline fell 2.6 cents to close at $2.169 a gallon, heating oil fell was flat at $2.515 a gallon and natural gas rose 4.6 cents to close at $3.873 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.34 percent from 2.31 percent Thursday.

In metals trading, the price of gold fell $27 to $1,171.60 an ounce. Silver fell 31 cents to $16.11 an ounce and copper fell 2 cents to $3.05 a pound.

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