Consumer confidence ticked upward for the first time since 2007. Around the world, consumers are becoming more comfortable with the prospect of shelling out some cash, even if they're still approaching the notion with caution.

According to a survey conducted by The Nielsen Company between September 28 and October 16, 2009, consumer confidence was highest in India, with Indonesia and Norway following. Japan, Latvia, Portugal, and South Korea were at the other end of the spectrum, though South Korea did show a significant quarterly improvement.

Oil traders have been selling off the precious crude Monday, as a steep sell-off of China's benchmark index raised concerns over the current state of both the Chinese and U.S. economies.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite Index took a beating to start off the week, trading down 6.74%, and raised fresh concerns over a global economic rebound. Today's sell off in the Chinese market was its biggest decline since June of 2008. The sell-off comes on the heels of a near 3% drop in the index last Friday.

Markets throughout the world have been rallying on the expectation that the world recession is ending. Lurking underneath the surface are some disturbing events.

Japan is in a sharp deflationary spiral. The Corporate Goods Index, which measures wholesale prices, plunged 8.5%, this after a 6.7% drop in June. This is the fastest drop on record.

Let's look at other deflationary numbers. Import prices fell 33.3% in yen terms and 26.5% on a contract-currency basis. Export prices fell 15.3% in yen terms and 6.5% in contract currencies.

Corning (NYSE: GLW - option chain) stock is falling today after the company said that an earthquake in Honshu yesterday disrupted production at its LCD glass manufacturing facility in Shizuoka, Japan. GLW expects the earthquake to reduce third-quarter revenue by up to $65 million. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on GLW.

This morning, GLW opened at $16.08. So far today the stock has hit a low of $15.80 and a high of $16.15. As of 11:25, GLW is trading at $15.94, down $0.44 (-2.7%). The chart for GLW looks neutral and S&P gives GLW a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Do we need a second stimulus? Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman thinks so.

If we take a page from history, Japan languished in never-never land for about ten years after the stock market crash of the early 1990s. Its economy remained stagnant. Some analysts say that reason for the stagnation was the lack of enough stimulus to pull it out of recession.

At the end of last month, American auto maker Chrysler announced that it was entering into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and now we are starting to hear reports of plans to close a large amount of dealerships next month.

In all, Chrysler has decided to eliminate 789 out of its 3,200 dealerships that it says are just not pulling their weight in terms of sales. The company stated that its network of dealerships has become antiquated, and there currently exists too much competition between its dealerships.

Giving a clear indication of just how low demand for new autos has fallen, the world's largest car maker, Toyota (NYSE: TM) posted its first annual loss in 59 years this morning.

We all know that the auto industry is in major trouble. We have America's big three all fighting for their lives, and Chrysler has already been forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

We all know that the auto industry has been in crisis over the past year, and February was yet another tough month for auto sales, with hefty declines in sales for the major companies.

Analysts have been hoping that the auto industry is going to turn the corner during the second half of this year, but we are still waiting for any sign that things are getting back to normal as General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and Toyota Motor company (NYSE: TM) all reported major drops in sales last month.

Japan must be in a near panic mode. The government is considering buying shares to prop up the market. Kaoru Yosano, finance minister, has instructed government officials to look into ways of countering falling stock prices. Such a move is not new. In the 1960's two consortia spent $4.1 billion to counter the selling pressure over a two year period.

If you are sitting in your office or at home thinking: "What am I going to do next? The economy is getting worse by the day," you are not alone. For the first time in a generation real fear has gripped the nation. This was reflected in the action of the markets since the beginning of the month.

Global markets are at multiyear lows, as is the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial average. The S&P index sank below the psychological 800 level.

This past week, attention was focused on central and eastern Europe, where the recession is gaining momentum on the downside. Now add to this mix the banking crisis. Investors are fearing a lack of solvency among the big international banks. Credit default swaps are rising, with Korea hitting a three-month high. Then you have the crisis in Japan, where GDP is falling by an annualized rate of 12.7% in the past three months.

Japan, which boasts the second-largest economy in the world, is facing exceptionally large recessionary pressures as well, as its gross domestic product recoiled at a year-over-year rate of 12.7% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

This marked the nation's worst GDP number since the first quarter of 1974, when the oil crisis helped contribute to a 13.1% collapse. The dismal figure, worse than anything posted (yet) by the U.S. or struggling European nations, also exposes Japan as among the hardest hit by a sweeping global recession. (Well, at least misery loves company). Some are speculating that the crisis could prompt Japanese officials to write up another stimulus package, which would join two packages, together worth 50 trillion yen ($545 billion), that were announced late last year.

The manager of the world's largest bond fund, PIMCO, has laid-out in unambiguous terms the problem facing the global economy in the quarters ahead: The U.S. and global recession will worsen -- with a "second wave" of turmoil -- unless governments increase fiscal stimulus and spending plans.

"The economic setback is still in its early stages," Koyo Ozeki, head of Asia-Pacific credit research at Pimco's Tokyo office, wrote in a report published on PIMCO's web site. "Any further decline in housing prices could accelerate the downturn, intensifying the pernicious feedback loop and possibly leading to a second wave in the financial crisis in the next six to 12 months."

Wow! Japan saw its industrial output plunge by 9.6% month to month in December. This is coming from the world's second largest economy. The Bank of Japan warned of an unimaginable contraction in the Japanese economy.

While the December drop was most severe, Kazuo.Momma, researcher for the central bank, said that there could be an even greater decline between January and March. He said it would be quite a while before inventories are fully adjusted and output recovers.

For employees of Japan's third largest automaker, Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY), the news today was grim. Nissan announced it will be eliminating a hefty 8.5% of its workforce, or roughly 20,000 jobs.

The news comes at a time when all automakers are struggling to deal with the global recession that continues to keep car buyers off the showroom floors. Nissan said it expects to report its first annual loss in the past nine years.

For the company's most recent quarter, October through December, Nissan reported a $904 million quarterly loss.

The nutshell on the 2009 World Economic Forum held in Davos? It was a conference where nearly everyone agreed that the financial crisis started in and is primarily the result of U.S. policy errors, but agreed on little else after that.

Further, the Davos gathering produced almost no new insights regarding the nature of the crisis beyond what is already known: that excessive leverage throughout the system, arcane and in some cases Frankenstein-like derivatives, inadequate national-level financial regulation, and the collapse of demand, set in motion first the U.S. recession, then the credit crunch, then the global recession.