By Bob Blandeburgo Associate Editor Money Morning

Stimulus measures in Japan helped the world’s second-largest economy grow at its fastest pace in more than two years, but it’s unlikely policymakers will reduce spending despite the nation’s rapidly growing debt.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in Japan grew at 4.8% annual rate in the third quarter, surpassing all the forecasts of 20 economists polled by Bloomberg News. That follows a revised gain of 2.7% in the three months ended June 30, according to Japan’s Cabinet Office. Japan’s economy grew 1.2% on a quarterly basis.

“The turnaround in public investment has definitely contributed to the rebound in GDP, so if they do start to cut it’ll weigh on growth,” Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief Japan economist at Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS), told Bloomberg.

Stimulus measures around the world helped Japan’s exports grow 6.4%, but as global economies withdraw stimulus measures,

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A sharp plunge in Shanghai Composite Index Monday sent Asian stocks sharply lower as nervous investors went on a selling spree, reflecting a growing unease that the six-month old rally has gone ahead of any economic recovery.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which had declined nearly 3% on Friday, plunged 6.7% to 2,697.  Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1.9%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average, which was up 200 points earlier in the session, fell 41.61 points, or 0.4%, to 10,492.53.  In Yesterday’s landslide victory, the Democratic Party of Japan came to power ending an almost half-a-century rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.  The yen strengthened, helped by the election results.

This morning’s U.S. stock futures show Wall Street is headed for a lower opening.  Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 59, or 0.6%, to 9,477. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.70, or 0.6%, to 1,021.70, while

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I am rushing but would be remiss, of course, if I did not mention Sunday's landslide victory of the DPJ in Japan which marks an end to a +50 year reign of the conservatives.

from the BBC;

The DPJ has won 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house, ending 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), NHK TV says. DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama hailed the win as a revolution and said people were "fed up" with the governing party.

Prime Minister Taro Aso has said he will resign as head of the LDP, taking responsibility for the defeat. Japan is suffering record unemployment and its economy is struggling to emerge from a bruising recession.The DPJ has said it will shift the focus of government from supporting corporations to helping consumers and workers.

and here is the Economist;

IN A land of volcanoes and earthquakes

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The Permanent Wealth Investor assembles high-yielding dividend stocks, profit plays on gold and specially designated "Alpha-Dog" stocks into high-income/high-return portfolios for subscribers. Hutchinson's strategy is tailor-made for periods of market uncertainty, during which investors all too often go completely to cash - only to miss some of the biggest market returns in history when market sentiment turns positive. But it can work in virtually every market environment.To find out about this strategy - or Hutchinson's new service, The Permanent Wealth Investor – please just click here.]

Investors …

Initial Jobless Claims rise…  PPI does too!  Euros get hung out on a line…  Gold makes a comeback! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Thunderin’ Thursday to you! It may not be Thunderin’ where you are, but apparently it was yesterday in my little river town, as I heard we had some shingles blow off… And… It certainly is Thunderin’ over in the Eurozone this morning, I’ll tell you why in a minute. So, let’s get going don’t want to get caught in any of that Thunder!

I finished the last of my 3 presentations yesterday, and called it quits, as far

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I have been much more positive about the Japanese economy than most other analysts in recent months, largely because I believed that many of the problems from the Japanese recession of 1990-2003 were finally in the country’s rearview mirror. In particular, I believed that the Japanese budget deficit – which, by 2003, had become quite acute – was well on the way to being solved through public spending restraint. That, in turn, would allow Japan to pay down its excessive public debt, giving its private sector room to expand. But the surprise resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Monday suggests I may have been wrong about the country’s near-term prospects. Japan Gives Investors a Bubble Bath The Japanese stock market and real estate bubble of the 1980s is now the stuff of stock-market legend, for it sent that country into ...