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• The U.S. dollar surged into positive territory for 2018 on Tuesday and broke past key levels against several currencies as a divergence between growth and the interest rate outlook versus other countries spurred investors to chase the currency higher.

The dollar, traded against a basket of major currencies, rose as high as 92.566, the highest since Jan. 10, before retracing to 92.454. The greenback is approaching this year’s high of 92.64 reached on Jan. 9. and is above the year’s open at 92.24.

The U.S. economy has shown signs of strength in 2018 that few other developed economies can match.

The euro, which has been knocked by weaker-than-expected economic data and growing doubts about when the European Central Bank will normalize its monetary policy, fell 0.67 percent against the greenback to $1.1998 .

• U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday as a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting got under way.

The two-year note yield climbed to 2.504 percent and hit its highest level since September 2008, when it hit 2.542 percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was also higher at 2.966 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose to 3.129 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

• The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) began its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. Most investors are not expecting the central bank to tighten its policy. Expectations in the market for a rate hike are just 5.7 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

However, investors will be on the lookout for clues about the central bank's views on inflation and the economy.

"A key focus for us this week will be the extent to which the Fed statement on Wednesday jawbones markets to force pricing for hikes in 2018 higher," Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note.

• U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the American economy is strong despite a range of uncertainties over global trade.

• U.S. officials are pushing for quotas and “other restrictions” on steel and aluminum imports, a top trade official said on Tuesday after the White House announced a month-long extension of tariff exemptions for Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

The decision to extend that deadline was welcomed by many of America’s trading partners, but they continued to push for permanent exemptions.

• U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief trade negotiator said on Tuesday he was not looking to negotiate changes to China’s state-driven economic system in trade talks in Beijing this week but would seek to expose it to more foreign competition.

• U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce he viewed the talks with top Chinese officials on Thursday and Friday as the start of a long learning process for Washington and Beijing to better manage their trade differences.

• U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the location and date of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be announced soon.

• South Korean President Moon Jae-in said U.S. President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean official said on Monday.

However, South Korean trust in North Korea has surged since last week’s feel-good summit at which their leaders declared an end to hostilities and to work towards denuclearization of the peninsula.

• Most major automakers on Tuesday posted lower new U.S. vehicle sales for April as consumer demand continued to weaken and competition intensified following a lengthy boom for the industry.

According to Autodata, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales for April hit 17.15 million units compared with 17.04 million a year ago. That was in line with an April SAAR of 17.1 million units expected by analysts polled by Reuters.

Auto sales have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride this year, with a weak performance in February followed by a jump in sales for some automakers in March.

• U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Tuesday that if a deal to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement cannot be reached with Canada and Mexico in about three weeks, its approval by the U.S. Congress could be in jeopardy.

Russian military spending fell by a fifth last year, its first decline in nearly two decades, with tighter purse-strings likely to affect Moscow’s military activity ahead, a report by defense think-tank SIPRI showed on Wednesday.

While global military spending rose one percent to $1,739 billion last year, Russia’s fell 20 percent in real terms to $66.3 billion, the report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed.

• Explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 26 people on Monday, including nine journalists who had arrived to report on an initial blast and were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber, officials said.

• Oil prices slid more than 1 percent on Tuesday as the dollar remained near a four-month high, but worries that U.S. President Donald Trump will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal underpinned the market.

Brent crude for July delivery settled at $73.13 a barrel, down $1.56 or 2.1 percent in the session. The June contract expired on Monday, settling up 53 cents at $75.17.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery settled down $1.32, or nearly 2 percent, at $67.25 a barrel. Crude extended losses briefly in post-settlement trade, after industry trade group the American Petroleum Institute released weekly inventory figures showing a larger-than-expected crude stockpile build.

• In West Texas, rising oil prices are fueling a sharp economic upswing, lifting employment and pay to records, driving up spending at hotels, restaurants, and car dealerships, and raising the cost of housing and other essentials.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC