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• The U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen on Wednesday, giving up most of the gains logged in the previous session, as worries about widening cracks in global stock markets prompted investors to load up on perceived safe-haven assets.

The dollar was 0.69 percent lower against the Japanese currency at 110.58 yen. The yen tends to benefit during geopolitical or financial stress as Japan is the world's biggest creditor nation.

More broadly, the dollar Index, which tracks the greenback versus the euro, yen, sterling and three other currencies, was down 0.59 percent

The drop in risk appetite prompted investors to pile into low-yielding currencies, Minh Trang, senior FX trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California, said.

"The dollar has had a great rally this year but it doesn't have much more in it to go further, especially if you are seeing the Fed slow down in rates," said Trang.

The dollar found little support from data showing the number of Americans filing applications for jobless benefits fell marginally last week in a sign of labor market strength, with claims appearing to stabilize after drifting higher in recent months.

• A measure of U.S. consumer confidence posted its sharpest decline in more than three years in December, rattling investors already nervous about the prospect that a global economic slowdown was spilling over into the United States.

In a sign households were growing more worried about the economy, the Conference Board on Thursday said its consumer confidence index fell this month by 8.3 points to a reading of 136.4, the largest one-month drop since July 2015.

The labor market, however, appears to still be strong. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000 for the week ended Dec. 22, the Labor Department reported.

Initial claims have now fallen in three of the last four weeks and are just above the 49-year low of 202,000 reached in the week ended Sept. 15.

• Both chambers of the U.S. Congress convened for only a few minutes late on Thursday, but took no steps to end a partial federal government shutdown before adjourning until next week.

Showing little sense of urgency over the shutdown, now in its sixth day, the Senate and the House of Representatives did nothing to restore funding for the roughly 20 percent of the government affected.

• Oil prices fell on Thursday, retreating from an 8 percent rally in the previous session as the oil market focused on signs of faltering global economic growth and record production of crude.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures dropped 4.24 percent, or $2.31, to settle at $52.16 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell $1.61 to settle at $44.61 a barrel, down 3.48 percent.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters