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• Running contrary to the norm on shock election announcements, the pound's steep gains on Tuesday point to hope among investors that the June poll may stabilize domestic UK politics as the country faces its biggest challenges in half a century.

Buffeted initially by speculation over the likely content of Theresa May's surprise statement, sterling bounced by a full cent after the prime minister called a vote for June 8, seeking to strengthen her parliamentary majority and bargaining position in talks on leaving the European Union.

• The pound was lording it at $1.2846 GBP= on Wednesday having shattered a months' old trading range with a jump of 2.2 percent overnight. It also cleared the 200-day moving average for the first time since June, putting the squeeze on a raft of speculative short positions.

Dollar selling spilled out broadly, sending the euro up to a three-week high at $1.0731 EUR=. Against the yen, the dollar was stuck at 108.60 JPY= and near its lowest since November.

• U.S. homebuilding fell in March after unseasonably mild weather buoyed activity in February and manufacturing output dropped for the first time in seven months, further indications that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter.

Coming on the heels of data last week showing the second monthly decline in retail sales in March as well a decrease in consumer prices, Tuesday's dour reports could reduce prospects of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase in June.

Housing starts decreased 6.8 percent to a seasonally

adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million units as the construction of single-family homes in the Midwest recorded its biggest decline in three years, the Commerce Department said.

Economists had forecast homebuilding falling to a 1.25 million-unit pace last month. Housing starts were up 9.2percent compared to March 2016.

In a separate report, the Fed said manufacturing production dropped 0.4 percent in March, weighed down by a3.0 percent decline in the output of motor vehicles and parts.

• President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a review of the U.S. visa program for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the country, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice that possible changes may be ahead.

Seeking to carry out a campaign pledge to put "America First," Trump signed an executive order on the H-1B visa program. It was vague on many fronts, and did not change existing rules, but one objective, said Trump aides, is to modify or replace the current lottery for H-1B visas with a merit-based system that would restrict the visas to highly skilled workers. Indian nationals are the largest group of H-1B recipients annually.

• The tax-writing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives will begin holding hearings on a Republican tax reform proposal next week, the panel's chairman said on Tuesday, even as the timeline for overhauling the tax code slips toward late 2017.

• The sweeping trade deal for the Pacific region known as the TPP might still be implemented by making adjustments to its text even though the United States has withdrawn, Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Tuesday.

• U.S. crude prices were down more than 1 percent at $52.32 a barrel in post-settlement trade after the American Petroleum Institute released its weekly data, indicating that crude stockpiles declined less than analysts had forecast.

Oil futures fell during the trading session, touching their lowest in 11 days as the U.S. government reported that shale oil output in May was expected to post the biggest monthly increase in more than two years.

The oil market has been caught in a tug-of-war, with OPEC production cuts supporting prices while signs of rising U.S. production have pressured crude on concerns about a glut. On Tuesday, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude touched a low of $52.10 before bouncing on suggestions that Saudi Arabia is holding crude off the market.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures swooned as low as $54.61, the lowest since April 7, then settled down 47cents at $54.89 a barrel. U.S. WTI futures settled at $52.41 a barrel, down 24 cents. U.S. crude's intraday low was also the weakest since April 7.

• The International Monetary Fund raised its 2017 global growth forecast on Tuesday due to manufacturing and trade gains in Europe, Japan and China, but warned that protectionist policies threaten to choke a broad-based recovery.

The IMF, whose spring meetings with the World Bank get underway in Washington this week, forecast that the global economy would grow 3.5 percent in 2017, up from its previous forecast of 3.4 percent in January.

The IMF lifted Japan's 2017 growth projection by 0.4 percentage point from January, to 1.2 percent, while the eurozone and China both saw a 0.1 percentage point growth forecast increase to 1.7 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the IMF held its 2017 U.S. growth forecast steady at 2.3 percent, which still represents a substantial jump from 1.6 percent growth in 2016, partly due to expectations that President Donald Trump will cut taxes and increase government spending.

The IMF also revised Britain's growth forecast to 2.0 percent for 2017, up a half percentage point from January.