Global stocks shaky amid economic woes
Fears keep markets in tight range. Japan, world's No. 2 economy, slides into recession.
LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Global stocks wavered Monday on news that Japan's economy, the second largest in the world, had fallen into recession.
European stocks were in negative territory in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100, the CAC-40 in France and Germany's DAX all fell about 1.4%.
U.S. futures, which give an indication of how Wall Street will open when trading begins in New York, were pointing to a weak start.
In Asia, major markets finished the session mixed. The Nikkei in Japan added nearly 1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged lower.
Japan's Cabinet Office confirmed Monday that its economy fell another 0.1% in its third quarter, following a 0.9% drop in the second quarter.
The country's gross domestic product -- second to the United States -- has fallen by 0.4% this year, pushing Japan into its first recession since 2001. Gross domestic product is the broad measure of a nation's economic activity.
The announcement was not unexpected, but added to the increasingly dark outlook for the global economy.
According to the National Association of Business Economists, which surveyed a panel of 50 experts, the U.S. economy will grow a mere 0.2% this year. The group had forecast growth of 1.2% in October.
Economic conditions are expected to remain difficult for some time. The group slashed its growth outlook for 2009 to 0.7% from 2.2% last month.
World leaders meeting in Washington over the weekend unveiled a set of sweeping plans aimed at tackling the ever-expanding economic crisis.
Presidents and prime ministers from Group of 20 countries managed to find some common ground on both the causes of the crisis and areas that need to be fixed.
But there is still much work to be done ahead. G-20 leaders said they would meet again by the end of April to review the progress on the initiatives announced Saturday.
Leaders from countries including the United States, members of the European Union, China, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, agreed to the summit late last month at the height of the global financial crisis.
Countries around the world have cut rates and launched stimulus plans in response to the unrelenting economic crisis which has spread to every part of the global financial system.
In a sign of how deeply the financial crisis is affecting firms on Wall Street, seven top executives at investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), including chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, have decided to forgo their bonuses this year.
CNN Wires contributed to this report. 
