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• The U.S. dollar continued its slide on Wednesday as political pressure on President Donald Trump increased, and dipped briefly near session lows after the release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes which included cautious comments on trade.

• Trump suffered twin setbacks on Tuesday with two former advisers facing possible prison sentences - and one of them saying Trump told him to commit a crime - possibly hurting his Republican Party’s November midterm election prospects and widening a criminal investigation that has overshadowed his presidency. This dampened investor appetite for riskier investments across asset classes.

• Some analysts said renewed U.S. political uncertainty could keep the dollar under pressure, although the immediate currency impact was modest.

• The dollar index, which fell sharply this week after Trump criticized the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases, was down 0.3 percent to a daily low of 94.93 .DXY.

• “Political pressure on Trump is increasing ... reducing the likelihood that he will have the political capital to continue driving fiscal stimulus in the U.S. economy. This suggests to many market participants that the era of U.S. outperformance is likely to end,” said Karl Schamotta, director of FX strategy and structured products at Cambridge Global Payments in Toronto.

• Easing fears about a currency crisis in Turkey and the Italian budget, as well as short-covering, sent the euro up for the sixth consecutive day. The euro gained 0.5 percent to a session high of $1.162 EUR=.

• The dollar strengthened mostly against the Japanese yen to 110.53 yen JPY=. It had weakened to 109.76 overnight, its lowest since late June.

• U.S. and Chinese officials met for the first time in more than two months to try find a way out of their deepening trade conflict, but there was no evidence that the low-key discussions would halt a new round of U.S. tariffs due on Thursday.

• Federal Reserve officials discussed raising interest rates soon to counter excessive economic strength but also examined how global trade disputes could batter businesses and households, minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting showed.

The Fed, which released the readout from its July 31-Aug. 1 meeting on Wednesday, has been raising rates gradually since 2015 and is now concerned the economy is so strong that inflation could rise persistently above its 2 percent target.

Fed policymakers left rates unchanged at their last meeting, but their discussion made it clear they are considering another rate hike soon. The Fed has raised rates twice this year and is widely expected to tighten policy again next month.

• U.S. President Trump may be unhappy with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, but it is a different Fed program that may weigh on the fate of his economic policies as the central bank shrinks its crisis-era bond holdings with no clear sign of when it will stop.

• A battle between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democrats over federal funding to help secure November’s U.S. elections stymied legislation in Congress on Wednesday, at least for now, that is aimed at thwarting Russian meddling by strengthening states’ voting procedures.

• The White House pushed back forcefully on Wednesday against suggestions that a plea deal struck by President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen implicated Trump in a crime.

Cohen on Tuesday pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges of tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. He told a federal court in Manhattan that Trump directed him to arrange payments ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence two women who said they had affairs with Trump.

• Oil prices rose 3 percent on Wednesday, with Brent crude futures hitting a three-week high, after U.S. government data showed a larger-than-expected draw in crude inventories and as Washington’s sanctions on Iran signaled tightening supplies.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $2.15, or 3 percent, to settle at $74.78 a barrel. The global benchmark reached $75.00 during the session, the highest since July 31.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures rose $2.02 to settle at $67.86 a barrel, a 3.1 percent gain.

• European oil companies have started to cut back on Iranian purchases, although Chinese buyers are shifting their cargoes to Iranian-owned vessels to keep supplies flowing.

• Ratcheting up tensions, Iran warned on Wednesday it would hit U.S. and Israeli targets if it were attacked by the United States after Trump’s security adviser said Washington would exert maximum pressure on Tehran going beyond economic sanctions.

• OPEC has started to boost supplies following a deal with Russia and other allies in June, although producers have been cautious so far. Saudi Arabia told OPEC it cut supply in July, rather than increasing output as expected.

• Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in his first purported speech in nearly a year, has called on followers to fight on despite recent defeats, according to an audio recording posted on the group’s media outlet.

In the 55-minute statement, Baghdadi congratulated what he described as the “striking lions” behind recent attacks in Canada and Europe and called on followers to use bombs, knives or cars to carry out attacks.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC