Tokyo stocks continued to rise Tuesday but gains were capped when the Nikkei 225 Average approached the 10,000 mark. The key Japanese index closed 0.6% higher. The Nikkei's Nozomu Kitadai has the details.

Yahoo is done with its cost-cutting program and is now hiring, Chief Executive Carol Bartz told CNBC Tuesday. "We're not in cost-cutting mode… we're actually hiring. We're expanding as a company," Bartz said.

The UK's trade deficit widened to an eight-month high in September as the number of imported cars rose sharply. Neil MacKinnon from VTB Capital spoke to CNBC about the outlook for the UK and sterling.

The S&P 500 will likely rise toward 1,121 points, but could be due a correction after that because a recovery in the US economy is still not certain, Christian Blaabjerg from Saxo Bank told CNBC Tuesday. Enzio von Pfeil from EconomicClock.com joined the discussion.

"People have been waiting for a dip to get long these markets," Piers Curran from Amplify Trading told CNBC Monday. Last week's dip in stocks was probably the last opportunity for investors to get in before the end of the year, he added.

"It's actually nice to have a bit more of a relaxed week," Piers Curran from Amplify Trading said Monday. "The market is going to be on the front foot this week. I think we'll trend higher on fairly low volumes." He sees stocks rising towards 2009 highs this week or next week.

Kraft is expected to launch a hostile bid worth close to $17 billion for UK confectioner Cadbury before the 5 pm London time deadline Monday. "Every indication appears to be that Kraft will make a hostile bid, probably somewhere around the original offer they made at the start of September," Jon Cox from Kepler Capital Markets said.

"The markets are going up," Roger Nightingale from Pointon York said Monday. An "easy money policy" due to "weak economics;" "very low pay settlements;" and "very big increases in (corporate) profit margins" have created a "perfect recipe for equity markets," he said. Big beta stocks will be the ones to benefit from this scenario, Nightingale added.

The Nikkei 225 finished up 0.2% at 9,808 Monday, but volume was down at a 6-week low. Fast Retailing, Suzuki Motor, and Kubota were top gainers, but major power companies were among the hardest hit. Makiko Utsuda from The Nikkei has more.

Chinese government is calling on the US to keep deficit under control ahead of President Obama’s visit next week. “This is a more confident China, this is an assertive China,” Song Seng Wun from CIMB-GK Research told CNBC Monday, adding that “this is China speaking on behalf of many other countries.”

It was a surprise that keeping stimulus measures was all that was decided at the weekend's G20 meeting, David Page from Investec told CNBC Monday. It was expected that leaders would discuss currency policy, he said. "Stimulus is going to remain in place for some time," he predicted.

We need to have a pause and take a breather before the end of the year, Paul Ramscar from Financial Partners told CNBC Monday. There will be a correction before the end of the year, he said, adding that he is “still bullish on China” and expects Shanghai to hit 4,000 points by June 2010.