• The dollar rose to a one-week high against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, rebounding further from a five-week low touched the prior session, supported by quarter-end flows into the greenback as investors also shook off fears of a trade war.
The dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.79 percent at 90.08. The index has rallied more than 1 percent since hitting a five-week low of 88.942 on Tuesday.
Against the yen, the greenback held onto overnight gains to trade at 106.86.
Quarter-end and month-end flows boosted the dollar as global asset and fund managers rebalanced portfolios, analysts said. Data showing fourth-quarter U.S. economic growth slowed less than estimated also supported the greenback.
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• U.S. economic growth slowed less than previously estimated in the fourth quarter as the biggest gain in consumer spending in three years partially offset the drag from a surge in imports.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2017, instead of the previously reported 2.5 percent, the Commerce Department said in its third GDP estimate for the period on Wednesday. That was a slight moderation from the third quarter's brisk 3.2percent pace.
Inventory investment rose at a rate of $15.6 billion in the fourth quarter instead of the previously reported $8.0 billion pace.
• Contracts to buy previously owned homes rose in February, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday.
The NAR's pending home sales index increased to a reading of 107.5, up 3.1 percent from the prior month. January's index was revised to 104.3from 104.6.
• The selection process for the next Federal Reserve Bank of New York president has drawn the ire of New York City, state and other elected officials amid a report that San Francisco Fed President John Williams is the front runner for the job.
The extraordinary public opposition from Democrats, circulated by Washington-based advocacy group Center for Popular Democracy on Wednesday, highlighted concerns over a lack of racial and gender diversity at the U.S. central bank.
The outcry marked an escalation of scrutiny of the New York Fed, and could pose a challenge for Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s efforts to protect the central bank’s independence from political influence.
• President Donald Trump’s legal troubles deepened on Wednesday as a federal judge refused to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of flouting constitutional safeguards against corruption by maintaining ownership of his business empire while in office.
Both lawsuits accused Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution’s “emoluments” provisions designed to prevent corruption and foreign influence.
• The White House said on Wednesday the situation with North Korea was moving in the right direction after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
• North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearization and to meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after his meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold friendship with its isolated neighbour.
• After most European Union states expelled Russian diplomats over the Salisbury spy poisoning, sources in Brussels expect the bloc to hold the line on Russia sanctions for now.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the bloc’s troubled ties with Moscow on April 16, a broad debate planned long before a former Russian spy was found slumped on a public bench together with his daughter in the English town of Salisbury on March 4.
Russia said on Wednesday it would respond in kind to the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by the West over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury.
• Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Wednesday after data showed U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly rose 1.6 million barrels last week, weighing on market sentiment.
Brent June crude futures LCOc2 settled 70 cents lower at $68.76 per barrel, while the front month May contract LCOc1, which expires on Thursday, fell 58 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $69.53 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures for May delivery fell 87 cents to $64.38 a barrel, a 1.3-percent loss.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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