• The yen edged lower on Wednesday, remaining under pressure as risk sentiment improved and safe haven demand eased, on relief over the first round of the French presidential election.
The dollar edged up 0.2 percent to 111.30 yen JPY=. The greenback added to the hefty gains made on Tuesday, when it climbed 1.2 percent, the dollar's biggest one-day rise against the yen in three months.
The euro EUR=EBS was steady at $1.09285, retaining most of Monday's 1.3 percent gain. On Monday, it posted its strongest one-day performance in 10-1/2 months, which lifted the common currency to a 5-1/2-month high.
• U.S. consumer confidence fell from a more than 16-year high in April, but a surge in new home sales to an eight-month high last month suggested underlying strength in the economy despite an apparent sharp slowdown in growth in the first quarter.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 120.3 this month from 124.9 in March, which was the highest reading since December 2000. The index in April was the second highest reading since 2000.
In a separate report on Tuesday, the Commerce Department said new home sales jumped 5.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 621,00 units last month, the highest level since July 2016. New home sales were up 15.6 percent compared to March 2016. They have now increased for three straight months.
• The threat of a U.S. government shutdown this weekend appeared to recede on Tuesday after President Donald Trump backed away from a demand that Congress include funding for his planned border wall with Mexico in a spending bill.
• U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday will propose slashing corporate income tax rates and steeply discounting the tax rate on overseas corporate profits brought into the United States in a broad blueprint outlining his administration's tax principles, officials said. Trump has directed aides to cut the income tax rate paid by public corporations to 15 percent from 35 percent, another administration official said.
The plan also will include a sharp cut in the top tax rate on pass-through businesses, including many small business partnerships and sole proprietorships, to 15 percent from 39.6 percent, the official said.
• U.S. crude futures CLc1 settled up 33 cents to $49.56 a barrel, breaking a streak that saw the benchmark lose 7.4 percent. Brent crude LCOc1 settled up 50 cents at $52.10 a barrel. Both crude contracts fell after the API report, but U.S. crude bounced back to its settlement price.
Prices dipped after the market settled. The American Petroleum Institute said its data showed U.S. crude oil stocks rose 897,000 barrels in the latest week. Analysts had expected a draw of 1.6 million barrels.
• The API also said U.S. gasoline inventories increased. The market will watch closely Wednesday morning to see whether official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration confirms the API numbers.
Reference: Reuters
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