AFP - China Tuesday said it had hit deflation for the first time since 2002, ramping up fears over how the Asian giant is dealing with the global slowdown, as Japan's stock index fell to a new 26-year low.

AP - Most Asian stock markets climbed Tuesday, with oil companies gaining on the back of stronger crude prices, but Japanese shares sank to a new 26-year closing low amid ongoing worries about the global slowdown.

Reuters - World stocks sank toward 14-year lows in a broad-based sell-off on Monday, dragged lower by economic gloom in Europe and Asia, where Japan recorded its largest current account deficit on record.

AP - World stock markets fell Monday, with Japan's benchmark tumbling to a 26-year closing low, amid ongoing concerns about the length and depth of the global economic downturn and renewed fears about the financial industry following news the British government was taking a majority stake in another bank.

BusinessWeek Online - The stock market is crashing -- slowly, and in plain view of the people who count on it most. The 53% plunge in the Dow Jones industrials since October 2007 has wrecked the college- and retirement-savings plans of millions of investors. It has permanently lowered the long-term investment projections of private endowments and pension funds. It has sent corporate compensation experts scrambling to figure out how to reward top employees. All told, more than $10 trillion of stock market wealth has vanished, and with it the confidence that springs from financial security.

AFP - World stock markets fell sharply Monday as banking and economic woes returned to haunt investors, with Tokyo tumbling to a fresh 26-year low and London striking six-year depths.

AFP - The FTSE 100 index of leading shares inched up 0.33 percent Monday to close at 3,542.40 points.

AFP - Asian stocks went into tailspin on Monday after new data showed a deepening recession in Japan, while European and US stocks inched downwards amid fresh banking and economic worries.

Reuters - Stocks fell in choppy trade on Monday as gains in the energy and banking sectors were more than offset by a drop in pharmaceuticals after Merck's proposed $41 billion takeover of Schering-Plough .

AP - With little good economic news or direction from Washington, the pessimism on Wall Street intensified Monday, sending stocks lower.

AP - The weekly calendar holds little meaning on Wall Street these days.

Reuters - With stocks mired in multi-year lows and the fate of General Motors and banks hanging in the balance, investors are unlikely to curb their flight from risk this week, putting Wall Street on track for another brutal sell-off.

Reuters - Japan's Nikkei average struck a 26-year low on Monday and other Asian markets slipped on worries about the fate of General Motors and U.S. banks, while the yen edged up in a slight reversal of its broad slide.

AP - Asian stock markets sank Monday, with Japan's benchmark tumbling to a 26-year closing low, amid deepening anxiety that economies in the U.S. and elsewhere will take far longer to emerge from recession.