Chinese New Year

Sure, you could make your investment decisions based on boring methods like research and analysis. Or you could take a more exciting approach: Leading Asian brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets has released its "feng shui index" for year of the black water dragon.

Chinese New Year kicked off on Monday, and the celebration of the new lunar cycle will effect you than you might think. When the country that manufactures so much of what we buy goes on vacation for two weeks, U.S. retail can hardly act like it's business as usual.

Monday marks the start of the Chinese New Year -- the Year of the Water Dragon, to be precise, which comes around every 60 years. In Chinese culture, the dragon is seen as "a mystical and auspicious creature." Accordingly, this year is expected to be lucky, even transformational.

Positive earnings outlooks among some of Japan's major companies continued to boost investor sentiment. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index added 0.4% to close at 10,636. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.3% to end the day at 23,484. Markets in China remained closed for Chinese New Year.

Impressive earnings reports for blue chip U.S. companies and a rise in U.S. manufacturing data bolstered markets across Asia.

Shares were mixed in Asia Wednesday. In Japan the Nikkei 225 Index sank 0.6% as Toyota announced yet another vehicle recall. In China, however, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched up 0.2%.