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“We don’t think the world has ended.”

With so much doom and gloom being published these days, it’s refreshing to hear a respected leader of a global, blue-chip company make a positive statement. Doug Oberhelman, the chief executive officer of Caterpillar, met with analysts last week and painted a rather bright picture of the world economy, including the quote above.

Oberhelman went on to say that Caterpillar does not expect a double-dip recession because the world’s central bankers are staying on top of the situation and the global economy is improving -- especially in the developing world.

One week, the glass is half full, the next week, it is half empty.

Investor’s lack of conviction was on full display last week as a scandal at Hewlett Packard, a change of heart from the Fed, a revenue miss from tech bellwether Cisco Systems, and an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims led to a decline in global stock markets, according to Bloomberg.

Despite a disappointing jobs report, stocks still managed to post a solid gain last week. In fact, all three major U.S. indexes --the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ Composite --ended last week in positive territory for the year, according to CNBC.

Strong corporate earnings are helping to keep a floor under the market. Roughly 75% of the companies that have reported second quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates, according to CNBC. Of course, one factor that helped corporate America post strong earnings was keeping a tight rein on employment costs. Unfortunately, what’s good for corporate America may not always be good for “employment” America.

“The economy is still struggling; too many Americans are still out of work; and the Nation’s long-term fiscal trajectory is unsustainable, threatening future prosperity,” according to the Mid-Session Review submitted by the White House last week.

This supplemental update of the annual budget contained a number of projections that are of interest to us. Here are a few...

What is the most actively traded security on the planet?

The answer is the two-year Treasury note and its current yield is sending us a signal, according to Bloomberg, July 17. Last week, the yield on the two-year note fell for the seventh straight week and touched its lowest level ever. At just under 0.6%, it is now lower than during the peak of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008.

Wall Street investors are sure a fickle crowd these days.

After dropping 16% between April 23 and July 2, the S&P 500 recouped one-third of that loss last week and rose 5.4%, according to Bloomberg, July 10. Stocks rose on news that U.S. retail sales grew at the fastest pace in four years in June and a bullish report from the IMF projected an upwardly revised global economic growth rate of 4.6% in 2010, according to CNBC, July 8. Rising optimism that second quarter earnings reports might be better than expected also supported stock prices last week, according to MarketWatch, July 7.