• U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in January and consumer prices recorded their biggest gain in nearly four years, boosting prospects of an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve next month.
That optimism was not shared in the currency markets with the dollar's recent bounce running out of steam as investors took profits even as fresh data showed a pick up in inflationary pressures.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against a trade-weighted basket of six major peers, slipped to101.02. It rallied to a one-month high of 101.76 on Wednesday.
• Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen rejected suggestions that the central bank would respond willy-nilly to any changes in tax and spending plans by President Donald Trump with stepped-up increases in interest rates.
Appearing on Capitol Hill for a second day of hearings on the Fed’s semi-annual report to Congress, Yellen again called on lawmakers to focus their efforts on raising the long-run growth rate of the economy, via steps that elevate productivity and increase the supply of labor.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testified in front of Congress for the second straight day on Wednesday, where she acknowledged the economy was weak, but Fed policies have helped and the economy is close to achieving the Fed's goals on employment and inflation.
• Republican lawmakers on Wednesday criticized Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's stewardship of the U.S. economy and urged her to halt work on financial regulation until President Donald Trump names new policymakers to the central bank.
• President Donald Trump on Wednesday dropped a U.S. commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a longstanding bedrock of Middle East policy, even as he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb settlement construction.
In the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, the Republican president backed away from a U.S. embrace of the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, upending a position taken by successive administrations and the international community.
• Oil futures fell slightly on Wednesday as record high U.S. crude and gasoline inventories fed concerns about a glut. U.S. crude settled down 9 cents at $53.11. Brent crude was down 24 cents at $55.73 by 2:33 p.m. ET (1933 GMT). U.S. crude stocks rose 9.5 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, nearly three times more than forecast, but confirming a trade group's report late Tuesday of a larger-than-expected build.
U.S. crude inventories hit a peak at 518.12 million barrels, while gasoline stocks also touched a record, rising 2.8million barrels to 259.1 million barrels, according to the EIA.
Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC
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