The Nikkei 225 Average closed above the 14,000 level for the first time since Jan. 11, helped by a rally on Wall Street. The Nikkei's Ken Moriyasu has an update on how the market traded.

Asian stocks hit a 6-week high Wednesday on optimism that corporate earnings will weather the difficult economic environment. Kevin Gardiner from HSBC, and Mark Matthews from Merrill Lynch, discuss the recent market movements.

US stocks could gain at the market open Tuesday, but it's a carry over from the previous session, according to Rob Morgan from Janney Montgomery Scott.

Earnings are due out from Home Depot, Macys and Target Tuesday. Arthur Hogan from Jefferies & Company has analysis on what the US retail sector has in store for 2008.

MBIA is fighting to hang on to its top-notch rating and announced Monday it was eliminating its quarterly dividend. Benjamin Pace, CIO of Deutsche Bank Private Wealth, considers the situation with the bond insurers.

Airbus last week announced it expects the market for aircraft to cool and new orders to halve this year after years of strong demand from airlines. Howard Wheeldon from BGC Partners discusses the aviation and aerospace industry.

Global economic growth could miss forecasts this year if there are further earnings writedowns, the IMF warned Tuesday. Shanat Patel from Nomura considers the outlook.

Tokyo stocks closed lower despite a strong start to trading Tuesday. Nozomu Kitadai from The Nikkei has the details.

There is underlying skepticism among German business leaders, despite a strong headline number from the Ifo Institute's survey, according to Holger Fahrinkrug from WestLB.

With little confidence in many financials, Mervyn Davies, chairman of Standard Chartered Group is optimistic about '08 due to a better-than-expected profit and exceptional growth in the emerging markets.

Monoline insurers are already causing writedowns in the banking sector and analysts expect more trouble to come. Stephen Davies, CEO of Javelin Wealth Management, and John Haynes from Rensburg Sheppards, discuss monolines and credit rating.

Although US futures are pointing to the upside, Richard Suttmeier from RightSide.com says this is just a temporary Ambac bounce and there is more bad news to come.