World stocks climbed strongly on Monday for a fifth session running, lifted by hopes that the U.S. economic downturn may be bottoming out as investors sought to take advantage of cheaper equities.

Citigroup Inc. (C) today (Monday) unveiled plans to cut more than 50,000 jobs in the “near term” and slash expenses by 20% to preserve capital as it faces a global slowdown that’s expected to push well into 2009.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.9% in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced yesterday (Wednesday).

Back when it was Esso, the Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) predecessor urged motorists to “put a tiger in your tank.” These days, consumers probably feel more like they’ve got a tiger by the tail. And they should, for their family budget is certainly getting mauled.

Bear Stearns Shareholders Approve JPMorgan Sale; Sears Expects More Pain After Loss; Weak Economy Emboldening Costco; Pacific Rim GDP Growth; Staff Reduction at GM.

Former Fed chief Paul Volcker has warned that the Fed’s recent use of “long-dormant” powers may set a dangerous precedent for the future, causing “market participants” to factor another Fed bailout into their increasingly reckless trading strategies.

“Whatever claims might be made about the uniqueness of current circumstances, it seems inevitable that the nature of the Fed’s response will be taken into account and be anticipated, by officials and market participants alike, in similar future circumstances,” Volcker said in prepared testimony before Congress.

The US recession (sorry, Mr President: ‘downturn’) is just beginning, according to JPMorgan Chase boss James Dimon.

According to a report in The Huffington Post blog, Dimon said at a conference in New York: “Even if the capital markets crisis resolves, it does not mean that this country will not go into a bad recession. The recession just started.”

“We don’t know if it’s going to be mild or severe,” he continued. “We’re thinking there’s a third of a chance that it’s going to be pretty bad … closer to the 1982 recession than the very mild recessions we had in 2001 and 1990.”

JPMorgan Makes Schwartz an Offer; Retails Sales Rise; Berkshire’s Brandon Resigns; Brazilian GM Plant; Hungary for Oil; Denny’s Reports 1Q Decline; Goldman Sachs to Cut More Jobs; Fremont Sells Assets to CapitalSource

While 2008 has not been the banner year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that 2007 was, several blue-chip operations including Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) have picked up where private-equity firms left off last fall.

Although the earnings season officially kicked off last week with Alcoa reporting first quarter earnings, the real fun starts this week with seven Dow components reporting.