• The dollar pulled back from one-month highs against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as tumbling oil prices pushed down U.S. yields, while the pound wobbled after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney shot down hopes of an interest rate hike.
The dollar index against a group of major currencies was 0.05 percent lower at 97.699.It had hit a one-month high of 97.871 on Tuesday as expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve, which hiked interest rates last week, would tighten policy again in 2017.
The euro was steady at $1.1137 after retreating to a three-week low of $1.1119 overnight.
The dollar was down 0.2 percent at 111.220 yen , off a near one-month peak of 111.790 touched on Tuesday.
The pound was little changed at $1.2630 . The currency had slid 0.9 percent overnight and plumbed a two-month trough of $1.2603.
• Federal investigators probing the lobbying work of ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn are focussed in part on the role of Bijan Kian, Flynn’s former business partner, according to a person interviewed by the FBI.
• President Donald Trump's job approval rating has dropped to 36% due to Americans' negative reaction to his handling of the Russia investigations, a new CBS News poll has found.
• Business confidence in Asia rose to a three-year-high in the second quarter of the year, propelled by a slew of favorable economic data across the region and easing concerns over the health of China's economy, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.
The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index .TRIABS RACSI, representing the six-month outlook of 101 firms, climbed to 74 in April-June from 70 three months earlier. A reading over 50 indicates a positive view.
• Japanese firms say shrinking domestic demand is their biggest worry over the next three years while labour shortages are a close second, a Reuters poll found, highlighting the difficulties of coping with a dwindling and rapidly ageing population.
• On Monday, the historic first day of Article 50 talks in Brussels, the row seems to have lasted until about lunchtime. Britain caved in, agreeing to park trade talks until progress has been made on the Brexit bill, citizens’ rights and the Irish border.
Despite Davis’s claims that what matters is “not how it starts but how it ends” and “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, it is hard not to see, in this almost instantaneous British climbdown, a foretaste of things to come.
• George Soros, the billionaire who earned fame by betting against the pound in 1992, said Britain was approaching a tipping point that would see the economy slow to such an extent that Brexit might even be reversed.
• Japan opened a missile defence drill to the public on Wednesday, a move it says will reassure the country it is ready to counter any missile attack by neighbouring North Korea.
• A suspected terrorist was shot dead by soldiers in one of Brussels’ main railway stations on Tuesday night after what police described as a small explosion.
Officers believe the man was wearing an explosive belt and a witness at Brussels Central station reportedly heard the man call out “Allahu Akbar” – “God is great” in Arabic – before the blast.
• Oil prices dipped on Wednesday, trading around multi-month lows as investors discounted evidence of strong compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers with a deal to cut global output.
Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 was down 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $45.91 barrel at 0345 GMT after falling nearly 2 percent in the previous session to its lowest settlement since November.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 for August were trading down 8 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $43.43, after a more than 2percent decline to the lowest since September on Tuesday.
Reference: Reuters, CBS, The Guardian
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