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• Key events from May speech

- May says wants Brexit to leave Britain stronger, fairer, more united and more outward-looking than ever before

- May says Britain wants EU to succeed, not unravel

- MPs and peers to get a vote on the final Brexit deal, May says

- May says UK may continue to make payments to EU after Brexit, but only relatively small ones

- May proposes flexible Brexit transitional deal, with different aspects lasting different amounts of time

- May confirms that Britain will leave the single market

- May says she would rather leave EU with no trade deal than accept a bad one

- May outlined 12 negotiating priorities, including limiting immigration, exiting jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and ending full membership of the customs union that sets external tariffs for goods imported into the bloc.

- May has said she wants to agree Britain's future relationship with the EU within two years, followed by a period of implementation.

• The U.S. dollar fell sharply against its major rivals on Tuesday, following comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the strength of the U.S. currency, while the pound saw its biggest one-day jump in years.

The pound GBPUSD, -0.4350% soared after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said she would put the terms of the country’s exit from the European Union to a parliamentary vote. She also said the U.K. would “continue to be reliable partners, willing allies and close friends” with other EU member states, adding that she wanted to “trade with [them] as freely as possible.”

The currency traded at $1.2378 from $1.2090, a move of about 2.7%. The currency was also supported by inflation data out of the U.K., which showed consumer prices rose to their fastest annual rate in more than two years.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.20% a measure of the currency against six major rivals, fell 0.7%. The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, +0.23% a gauge of the greenback against 16 rival currencies, was down 1.1% at 91.16.

• San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams on Tuesday called for gradual U.S. interest-rate hikes over the next few years to keep the economy from overheating and ultimately falling into recession.

With the unemployment rate at 4.7 percent, the U.S. economy has reached full employment, Williams said, adding that inflation is on track to reach the Fed's 2-percent goal over the next couple of years.

"Looking ahead, further gradual increases in the target fed funds rate will likely be appropriate to bring monetary policy back to a more normal setting consistent with an economy at full strength," Williams said in remarks prepared for delivery at Sacramento State University.

• The United Nations expects global economic growth to rise to 2.7 percent this year and 2.9 percent in 2018, up from 2.2 percent in 2016, and said Brexit and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's tax policies could have adverse effects.

In its annual economic forecast published on Tuesday, the U.N. said there was uncertainty created by Britain's vote to leave the European Union and predicted the British economy would slow to 1.1 percent in 2017 and 1.3 percent in 2018 from an estimated 2.0 percent in 2016.

If Trump's plans for tax reforms protected U.S. producers then this could pose a "huge threat to the multilateral system and the WTO," said Alfredo Calcagno, head of macroeconomic and development policies at the U.N. economic agency UNCTAD.

• Brent futures lost 39 cents, or 0.7 percent to settle at $55.47 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 11 cents, or 0.2 percent to settle at $52.48 per barrel. Both contracts were up by $1 earlier Tuesday.

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as a decline in the U.S. dollar and comments by Saudi Arabia that it would adhere to OPEC's commitment to cut output. That offset forecasts that U.S. and Russian producers would boost crude output later this year.

• Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that globalization has powered worldwide growth and should not be blamed for the world's problems.

Xi's speech marked the first time a Chinese head of state has visited the business summit. He used the forum to promote inclusive globalization and warn that populist approaches can lead to war and poverty. He also warned that tit-for-tat trade controls would benefit no one.