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• More broadly, the dollar index, a gauge of the greenback’s value versus six major peers, fell 0.88 percent to 96.27, its lowest in more than a week.

The British pound logged its best day in eighteen months on Thursday, following reports that London is close to sealing a financial services deal with Brussels, and as the Bank of England kept interest rates steady but hinted future interest rate rises would be slightly faster if Brexit goes smoothly.

Sterling was 1.97 percent higher on the day, its best day since April, 18, 2017. The euro was up 0.87 percent.

• U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping both expressed optimism on Thursday about resolving their bitter trade disputes ahead of a high-stakes meeting planned for the two leaders at the end of November in Argentina.

Trump said on Twitter that trade discussions with China were “moving along nicely,” and that he planned to meet with Xi on the sidelines of the G20 leaders summit, after the two had a “very good” phone discussion.

In comments to state media, Xi said he hoped China and the United States would be able to promote a steady and healthy relationship, and that he was willing to meet with Trump in Argentina.

“The two countries’ trade teams should strengthen contact and conduct consultations on issues of concern to both sides, and promote a plan that both can accept to reach a consensus on the China-U.S. trade issue,” Xi said on CCTV state television.

• The United States midterm elections will see voters head to the polls on Tuesday, November 6.

Opinion polls are predicting a close race between the Democrats and Republicans, and a recent poll by YouGov of 1,296 US adults saw 47 percent in favour of the Democrats and 43 percent in favour of Republicans.

In a separate poll of 1,000 US adults, YouGov found only 43 percent approved of the President.

A survey from Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics shows a more politically mobilized crop of young Americans leaning away from Trump and the GOP in the midterms in near-equal proportions.

At the same time, the 18-to-29-year-old respondents appear to exhibit more support for some progressive policies.

• Democrats are generally favored to win the 23 seats they need to gain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, an advantage they could use to block Trump’s agenda. Republicans have a stronger chance of keeping control of the Senate, according to opinion polls and nonpartisan forecasters.

U.S. President Donald Trump increased economic pressure on Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday with new sanctions aimed at disrupting the South American country’s gold exports.

There is at least a chance that Italy’s rising borrowing costs could trigger a new sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone, JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon told the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

• U.S. President Donald Trump faced scathing criticism on Thursday for an advertisement linking Democrats and immigrants to violent crime, as Democrats and some of his fellow Republicans blasting it as the most racially divisive political ad in three decades.

The online ad features courtroom footage of Luis Bracamontes, an illegal immigrant from Mexico convicted in the 2014 killings of two police officers in Sacramento, California. It cuts between those clips and scenes of migrants, likely a reference to a caravan of up to 3,000 Central Americans headed through southern Mexico en route to the U.S. border.

“Who else would Democrats let in?” asks the ad, which Trump tweeted late on Wednesday. The ad ends with the tag: “President Donald J. Trump and Republicans are making America Safe Again!,” a play on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

• European business leaders said on Thursday that British Prime Minister Theresa May must find a Brexit deal with the European Union as quickly as possible because uncertainty is damaging investment and undermining growth.

• Europe’s top banks will learn on Friday how they have fared in their latest stress test, which could require some to raise capital or shed assets, with Italian lenders expected to come under close scrutiny.

• There is at least a chance that Italy’s rising borrowing costs could trigger a new sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone, JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon told the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

• Oil fell nearly 3 percent on Thursday, with U.S. crude futures hitting lows not seen since April, due to growing concerns that global demand is weakening at a time when output from the world’s major oil producers is surging.

Record production from the United States and post-Soviet Russia, along with a big move upward in output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has culminated in a move to the exits by speculators.

Oil has also been under pressure on growing concern over a possible slowdown in global growth as the U.S-China trade dispute remains unresolved, and is starting to hit emerging market economies in particular.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled down $2.15, or 2.9 percent, at $72.89 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 lost $1.62, or 2.5 percent, at $63.69, its lowest close since April 9.