• The dollar trod water early on Wednesday, showing little inclination to move against major peers such as the euro and yen before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump fronts a news conference that could set the market's near-term direction. The euro was flat at $1.0552 after brushing a 10-day high of $1.0628 overnight.
The dollar was steady at 115.765 yen. The greenback has suffered two days of losses against the safe-haven yen as investors braced for Trump's news conference - his first since winning the election in November.
• Job openings were little changed in November, but there were other signs of a stronger job market. There were 5.5 million openings on the last day of the month, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That was 1.3%higher than October. The number of hires rose 1.1% to 5.2 million.
• The World Bank on Tuesday said global growth would accelerate slightly as recovering oil and commodity prices ease pressures on emerging-market commodity exporters and painful recessions in Brazil and Russia come to an end.
Growth in advanced economies is expected to edge up to 1.8 percent in 2017 from 1.6 percent in 2016, the World Bank said, while emerging and developing economies will see growth accelerate to 4.2 percent this year from 3.4 percent last year.
The World Bank forecasts 2017 U.S. growth at 2.2 percent versus 1.6 percent in 2016, but the increase could be considerably larger -- and have effects far beyond U.S. shores.
"A surge in U.S. growth -- whether due to expansionary fiscal policies or other reasons -- could provide a significant boost to the global economy," the bank said.
However, this could lead to higher interest rates and tighter financial conditions that would have adverse effects on some emerging market countries that depend heavily on external financing.
It added that lingering uncertainty over the course of U.S. economic policy could weigh on global growth by keeping investment money on the sidelines until there is more policy clarity.
The World Bank said China's growth would continue to slow, easing to 6.2 percent in 2017 from 6.7 percent in2016, but growth would edge higher in some Southeast Asian economies, including Indonesia and Thailand.
India's strong growth is expected to accelerate, rising to 7.6 percent in 2017 from 7.0 percent in 2016 as reforms ease domestic supply bottlenecks and increase productivity.
• Oil prices fell about 2 percent on Tuesday, extending the previous session's sharp sell-off, as the U.S. dollar strengthened and doubts over implementation of a global deal to cut output loomed.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), such as Saudi Arabia, appear to be reducing production under a global deal to rein in oversupply but it is unclear whether other big producers like Iraq will follow suit.
U.S. light crude oil settled down $1.14, or 2.2 percent, at $50.82. That was its weakest daily closing level since Dec. 7.
Brent crude was last down $1.26 a barrel, or 2.3 percent, to $53.68.
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