What Investors Should Know in Asia

Lawrence Summers told delegates at the World Economic Forum that the U.S. was right to focus on its budget deficit, but should also make the most of "negligible" long term interest rates to improve healthcare and education.

Further weakness in the yen, trading near its lowest level in more than two years against the dollar, is unlikely given the currency's recent and rapid decline, said former top currency official in Japan Professor Eisuke Sakakibara, adding that a dollar/yen rate around 90 'sufficient' for Japan's manufacturers to reap the benefits of a weakened currency.

CEOs, many of whom are gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos for this year's World Economic Forum, are feeling less optimistic about their companies' growth prospects than last year or the year before, PwC said Tuesday.

Despite a weak global economy, Hilton Hotels has been aggressively expanding its international presence and sees opportunities in China, president of development Ian Carter told CNBC.

Yield-chasing investors, whose hunger for income powered a long rally in Asian junk-rated bonds, are finally feeling the first symptoms of indigestion after a year-long binge.

The S&P 500 has only one more psychological barrier to break through as it continues its trek toward what many consider to be an inevitable new high.

Europe's economies and markets have nothing to fear from the defeat of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party in German regional elections this weekend as the euro zone crisis will be on hold until Germany's national elections in September, analysts told CNBC on Monday.

The World Economic Forum's annual get-togethers in Davos have been widely criticized as a week-long party for the rich and powerful. But for some, the Forum is an important platform for discussing global issues and solutions.

U.S. crude futures may test $100 a barrel this week - possibly breaching triple digits - after an attack against a gas facility in OPEC member Algeria on Wednesday escalated into an international hostage crisis, leading to renewed fears that supply may be disrupted in other politically-unstable parts of North and West Africa.

Iron ore prices have nearly doubled over the past four months, delighting producers, yet the surge is hindering expansion of iron ore mines in Western Australia, the site of the world's largest known deposit.

Analysts are leaving financials, expecting other cyclical stocks, such as industrials, to be the new S&P 500 leadership.

"Europe has stabilized, the (U.S.) economy is going better, yet the Fed has this super-accommodative policy in place," said Joe LaVorgna, chief US economist at Deutsche Bank. "It doesn't make sense, but they're stuck with it."

As major airlines around the world start grounding Boeing's Dreamliner passenger jets amid safety concerns, analysts tell CNBC they are confident the U.S. aircraft manufacturer will fix the 787's "teething issues," which arise each time new technology is introduced.

In a departure from recent times, the Davos gathering will be dominated by the U.S. fiscal crisis rather than Europe's.

As the financial crisis in Europe and the U.S. forces governments to reduce budgets, entitlement policies have been cut and income inequality has increased.

Squabbling in Washington over the debt ceiling is again raising the specter that the United States may be forced to delay payments on its debt. While the stigma of a default would be damaging enough to investor sentiment, the chaos from a breakdown in financial markets' systems that might result would be even scarier.