This morning, the White House reported that President Obama's stimulus package has created or saved 650,000 jobs -- of course, this time the Obama Administration promises that the new figures will be "more accurate" than in the past. As for the jobs saved or created, the administration based its finds on roughly $150 billion in spending from the $787 billion stimulus package. These "more accurate" numbers are taken from state reports and private companies. The White House did note that the actual number of jobs created thus far is "likely closer to 1 million" because this report looked at only $150 billion of the $339 billion invested in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds spent.

It appears that the U.S. economy may finally be dragging itself out of the economic doldrums. At least, that is what the third-quarter Gross Domestic Product indicates. The GDP showed that the U.S. economy grew at a 3.5% annual pace in the third quarter, snapping a four-quarter contraction streak.

The growth is attributed to the massive government stimulus, which led to higher consumer spending. In addition, a reduction in inventories and robust government spending helped spur growth in the third quarter. But even excluding the influence of auto sales, production and inventories, the economy grew 1.9 percent last quarter.

While most headlines in the financial media recently reported economists and institutions projecting the end of the recession in the second half of the year, the IMF said Monday the worst of crisis may be yet to come.

While those who think we are out of the woods believe this recession will have just one dip, the IMF seems to advocate what is known as a "double dip" recession. They believe that the expected upward swing in Gross Domestic Product for developed nations will just precede yet another economic collapse in the first half of next year.

A digital clock in New York City counts up the U.S. National Debt. But the current administration broke the clock which only had enough digits to count up to $9,999,999,999,999. As Dick Cheney said, Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. I wonder whether this broken clock is proving Cheney wrong?

The clock has an interesting history. The now-deceased Manhattan real estate developer, Seymour Durst, built this sign in 1989 because he thought that the then $2.7 trillion debt was too high. The debt kept growing after he put up the sign but by the end of Bill Clinton's second term, it was down to around $5 trillion. Since January 2001, the national debt has grown to $11.3 trillion thanks to the $850 billion bailout bill.

The good news is that the clock, which currently counts the deficit by substituting a 1 for the $ sign that was there before, will be fixed next year -- adding two digits. Too bad fixing the clock won't make the U.S. economy any less perilous. At 81% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), our national debt is way above the 60% that the IMF considers to be a risky borrower.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Stock futures are lower in early morning, indicating stock markets would also open lower. This is a day after Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported financial results and before the quarterly GDP data is released.

As I indicated yesterday in Microsoft's earnings preview, the Street would hardly pay attention to the quarterly results and instead focus on outlook for the upcoming year. Indeed, Microsoft beat street estimates and yet left investors unimpressed as it also gave a lowered guidance.

Today, ahead of the bell at 8:30 a.m. ET, GDP figures will be reported. Economists expect Gross Domestic Product data to show a third quarter economic growth of 2.1% annual rate, compared to 2.6% in the previous quarter. This figure is especially important as economists try to see if the Fed's monetary policy hadn't choke up the economy too much with its consecutive rate hikes. The slowdown that is evident in the housing market is already an indication of the overall economic growth slowdown.

Also today, just before 10:00 a.m., October's University of Michigan's consumer confidence index will be released.

Earnings: The biggest company to report before the bell is Chevron Corp. (NASDAQ:CVX). Analysts expect a 24% jump in earnings.

Also in the news:

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NYSE:SUNW) reported quarterly earnings yesterday as well and posted a narrower net loss with a revenue rise of 17%.

In Hong-Kong, shares for Industrial & Commercial Bank of China rose nearly 15% to HK$3.52 ($0.45) in the world's largest IPO. The strong debut disappointed investors in Shanghai nonetheless. Analysts predicted the stock would rise between 10% to 15%.

In the auto industry a few stories are developing:

• According to The Wall Street Journal, car dealer AutoNation Inc. (NYSE:AN) will slash its orders from the Big Three -- General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and DaimlerChrysler (NYSE:DCX) -- automakers by 30% due to already high inventories.
• GM also said that due to losing sales to Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM), it will use some of the money saved in cost cuts to make more fuel efficient cars and match Toyota's technology. And while talks of bankruptcy have receded, analyst still sound cautious about GM.
• Finally, Volkswagen, the world's fourth-largest carmaker, beat expectations by nearly doubling third-quarter operating profit, reaffirming its full-year increased forecast.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT), struggling to communicate its new image of being both trendy and low-cost will sever its ties with another longtime ad agency. Personally, I wonder if Wal-Mart has ever internalized the term "target-market." You can't dance at too many weddings, Wal-Mart.

Staying on Wal-Mart, a union group and the Rev. Jesse Jackson demanded yesterday that Wal-Mart fire a Republican consultant. Find out why here.

Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) battery woes seem unending.

Finally, car rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc. will issue 88.2 million shares of common stock in a planned initial public offering for an estimated price of between $16 and $18 per share.

Bonds rallied again yesterday with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.72% from 4.76% late Wednesday.

Overseas, Asian markets closed mixed to lower. European markets are mixed at the moment with a negative trend.

Futures are negative in early morning trade (8:00 a.m.), pointing to a lower start for stocks.