• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted on Wednesday that he has "never considered leaving" his job and is committed to President Donald Trump's foreign policy goals.
Tillerson spoke at a hastily scheduled news conference after NBC News reported that he came close to resigning this summer but was urged to stay in the job until the end of the year. Citing multiple high-level administration sources, NBC said he referred to Trump as a "moron" in July following a meeting with the president's national security team.
• South Korea indicated on Wednesday it was open to talks on revising a 2012 trade pact with the United States after initial differences that followed President Donald Trump's threat to terminate the accord unless it was renegotiated.
• The top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee have not drawn any conclusions yet on whether the Trump campaign and Russia cooperated in the 2016election.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday the government would spend an additional two billion pounds ($2.7 billion) to create a new generation of affordable housing and help fix what she said was a broken market.
• The head of a private investment firm came one step closer to leading the Federal Reserve’s regulatory efforts Wednesday, a key post as President Donald Trump endeavors to trim regulations to boost economic growth.
The U.S. Senate voted 62-33 to limit debate on Randal Quarles’ nomination to join the Fed’s Board of Governors, guaranteeing opponents could not delay his confirmation.
• Dan Morehead, chairman of digital currency exchange Bitstamp, said bitcoin and other digital currencies will likely become assets serious investors will want in their portfolios.
"Bitcoin's essentially going to revolutionize currency, or money," Morehead said on Wednesday at the Sohn Investment Conference in San Francisco, which was attended by portfolio managers and asset allocators.
"If it does work, the upside is so high, it's a rational, expected thing to have in your portfolio," he said.
• Two weeks after the storm plunged the island into a blackout, less than 10 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million people have seen power restored - and many will wait months.
• Europe's political leaders are calling for a quick and meaningful solution to the constitutional crisis enveloping Spain following the Catalonia region's "illegal" referendum vote Sunday, with fears that the vote could spread uncertainty throughout the continent.
As the situation stands, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday that his government is ready to declare independence "in a matter of days." Such an act would plunge Spain into a constitutional crisis and could lead to an unprecedented power grab by the Spanish government, which would be expected to try to seize powers back from Catalonia's devolved government.
With potentially little time to salvage the situation, European leaders called for resolution to the situation.
• Any new head of the Federal Reserve will need to have the “flexibility of mind” to change tack during acute periods of crisis, the U.S. central bank’s outgoing Vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Wednesday.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that a pledge by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, including Russia, to cut oil output to boost prices could be extended to the end of 2018, instead of expiring in March 2018.
• Saudi Arabia's energy minister said that Russia has helped to breathe new life into OPEC and that shale can be a major contributor to the market in years to come.
Al-Falih was optimistic that oil markets were continuing to rebalance, but added prices were not for him or his counterpart, the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, to determine.
• Oil prices were stable on Thursday on expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia would extend production cuts, although record U.S. exports and the return of supply from a Libyan oilfield dragged on the market.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $55.83 per barrel at 0538 GMT, up 3 cents from their previous close.
In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 remained weaker than Brent, trading at $49.95 per barrel, down 3 cents from their last close.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng