Key News• The Japanese economy entered its first recession in seven years, as growth declined for the second quarter running by a wider margin than expected, raising fears the situation could deteriorate amid the global downturn. (FT)• Mining companies -- which couldn't dig minerals out of the earth fast enough just a few months ago -- now are struggling to climb out of a very deep hole. On Friday, the world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton, said major Chinese customers are trying to delay purchases of iron ore as China's building boom slows sharply. (WSJ)• Australian retail sales rose in the third quarter by less than economists forecast. (Bloomberg)• Key Reports (WSJ):8:30a.m. Nov NY Fed Manufacturing Index: Expected: -27. Previous: -24.6. 9:15a.m. Sep Industrial Production: Expected: +0.4%. Previous: -2.8%. 9:15a.m. Sep Capacity Utilization: Expected: 76.7. Previous: 76.4.

Quotable “It is fascinating to watch politicians come up with

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SPOT GOLD PRICES slid from an overnight rally as the US opening drew near on Tuesday, trading 3% lower against most major currencies from this time last week while world stock markets continued to leap thanks to the promise of almost $2 trillion in tax-payers' money. The Japanese Nikkei index leapt a record 14% on the day, recovering just over half of last week's huge losses. Germany 's Dax and France 's Cac40 index both added to Monday's 11% record bounces, meantime, while one newspaper claimed that "[Chancellor] Angela Merkel saves Germany " and President Sarkozy was praised for arranging a pan-Eurozone bail-out costing €300 billion. The Frankfurt and Paris bourses remained 8% below last week's opening levels, however. "There's relief that banks probably won't go bankrupt thanks to the capital injection plans," says Koichi Ogawa at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo ...

There are many moving parts now that are influencing growing investor angst and many of them are pretty scary.

Credit card repayment default rates are up 30% YOY.
Consumer Confidence is weak.
Home prices fell nationally per the S&P Case-Schiller U.S. National Home Price Index.