• The dollar slipped from a four-week high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday after a Democrat won a bitter fight for a U.S. Senate seat in deeply conservative Alabama, reducing Republicans’ already narrow Senate majority further.
The dollar index .DXY =USD slipped 0.15 percent to 93.941 after having risen to 94.219 on Tuesday, its highest level since Nov. 14.
Against the yen, the dollar slipped 0.2 percent to 113.35 yen JPY=, after having risen to a four-week high of 113.75 yen on Tuesday.
The euro EUR= gained 0.15 percent to $1.1757, after having slipped to a three week low of $1.17175 the previous day.
• Democrat Doug Jones won a bitter fight for a U.S. Senate seat in deeply conservative Alabama on Tuesday, dealing a political blow to President Donald Trump in a race marked by sexual misconduct accusations against Republican candidate Roy Moore.
The stunning upset makes Jones the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama in a quarter-century and will trim the Republicans’ already narrow Senate majority to 51-49, endangering Trump’s agenda and opening the door for Democrats to possibly retake the chamber in next year’s congressional elections.
With 99 percent of the vote counted, Jones had a lead of 1.5 percentage points over Moore. But the Republican refused to concede, telling supporters in Montgomery that votes were still coming in and state law would trigger a recount if the margin was within half a percent.
• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday the United States was prepared to talk to North Korea whenever it is ready but Pyongyang must come to the negotiating table willing to make choices to change course on its nuclear and missile programs.
• Oil prices rose on Wednesday as industry data showed a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles, while expectations for an extended shutdown of a major North Sea crude pipeline also continued to bolster markets.
Brent crude was up 64 cents, or 1 percent, at $63.98 a barrel by 0413 GMT. It had settled down $1.35, or 2.1 percent, on Tuesday on a wave of profit-taking after news of a key North Sea pipeline shutdown helped send the global benchmark above $65 for the first time since mid-2015.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 42 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $57.56 a barrel, having settled the previous session down 85 cents.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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