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• The dollar cut its losses on Wednesday as investors further digested the results of the U.S. midterm congressional elections, after an initial sell-off on expectations that the outcome would make further fiscal stimulus measures unlikely.

The elections delivered the most expected outcome: split control of the U.S. Congress, with Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives and Republicans cementing their majority in the Senate.

Market watchers believe the divided Congress will make further tax cuts and deregulation unlikely for now, which contributed to the dollar’s early fall.

Against a basket of six other currencies , the dollar fell 0.13 percent to 96.196.

Equity markets rallied as investors pushed funds into riskier assets, with the Dow and the S&P 500 index each closing up more than 2 percent on the day.

The euro was last up 0.05 percent at $1.143. Earlier, the single currency was up more than 1 percent above this year’s trough of $1.1301, reached on Aug. 15.

• The day after his party lost its lock on the U.S. Congress, President Donald Trump walked into a White House press conference ready for political combat, name-checking Republicans who he blamed for losing their seats and lashing out at reporters who challenged his assertions.

Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives to Democrats, but Trump shrugged that off, casting Tuesday’s congressional election results as “very close to complete victory” for Republicans and saying he could negotiate easier on some issues with Democrats, anyway. Republicans kept their Senate majority.

• The incoming head of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants the White House to back significant additional federal funds to rebuild crumbling U.S. roads, bridges and airports, as President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday a deal could be had.

Investors hope the split between Republicans and Democrats controlling the U.S. Congress will open up opportunities to pick new winners and losers because some government policies will be harder to predict.

These might include whether financials will benefit from deregulation even with stricter House oversight, if healthcare will face more policy proposals aimed at restraining costs, and whether military spending will get caught in a tussle between the two parties.

• President Donald Trump on Wednesday forced out Attorney General Jeff Sessions a day after congressional elections, and vowed to fight if the U.S. House of Representatives’ new Democratic majority launches probes into his administration.

Sessions - an early Trump supporter who ran afoul of the president by recusing himself from an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 White House campaign - said in a letter to Trump that he had submitted his resignation “at your request.”

The ouster of Attorney General Jeff Sessions by President Donald Trump on Wednesday drew immediate criticism from Democrats who warned Trump against moving to squash a probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The probe, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller under the supervision of the Justice Department, has clouded the Trump presidency. The president had long complained about Sessions recusing himself from supervising Mueller.

• The U.S. Federal Reserve began its policy meeting on Wednesday facing a shifting political landscape but little in recent economic data to alter plans for an interest rate increase in December and more to come next year.

The Fed is not expected to raise rates at its two-day session that ends Thursday, a meeting that follows a renewal of volatility in stock prices, tightening credit markets, and a spreading expectation that the U.S. economy will slow next year.

• Japanese manufacturers’ business confidence worsened in November and was expected to deteriorate further, the Reuters Tankan poll showed, reflecting apprehension over the risks of a full-blown trade war between the United States and China.

• Brent crude LCOc1, the global benchmark, settled down 6 cents to $72.07 a barrel, bouncing off its post-EIA session low on support from earlier reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia are discussing whether to cut crude output next year.

U.S. crude futures CLc1 fell 54 cents to settle at $61.67 a barrel, nearly 20 percent below a peak close of $76.41 a barrel in early October.

Oil prices slipped on Wednesday, continuing a recent slide after surging U.S. crude output hit another record and domestic inventories rose more than expected.

• The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said domestic crude inventories rose 5.8 million barrels in the latest week, more than double analysts’ expectations.

U.S. oil production jumped to 11.6 million barrels a day last week, a fact that will not be lost on OPEC and its partner Russia when they meet over the weekend.

An OPEC and non OPEC committee meets in Abu Dhabi and while ministers will not take action they could recommend a cut in production.

U.S. production now surpasses that of both Russia and Saudi Arabia, which ramped up ahead of expected U.S. sanction on Iranian crude which took effect this week

• President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he expects to meet again with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un early next year and that a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials supposed to have taken place this week would be rescheduled.

Pompeo had been due to hold talks in New York on Thursday with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol aimed at paving the way for a second summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un and at making progress on denuclearization.

The State Department said early on Wednesday that the meeting had been postponed, but gave no reason, raising concerns that talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear arms could break down. The State Department said the talks would be rescheduled “when our respective schedules permit.”

Reference: Reuters, The Guardian