• The dollar edged higher on Wednesday, rising from a 13-month low hit in the previous session as investors trimmed some short bets before a Federal Reserve policy decision.
Markets have reduced expectations for a U.S. interest rate increase in the coming months with expectations of another rate hike at less than 50 percent before the end of the year, according to Reuters polls and CME's Fedwatch tool.
The dollar edged up 0.1 percent to 94.19 against a trade-weighted basket of its rivals. It fell to a 13-month low of 93.638 on Tuesday.
• The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and possibly hint that it will start winding down its massive holdings of bonds as soon as September in what would be a vote of confidence in the U.S. economy.
The U.S. central bank will issue its latest rates decision following the end of a two-day policy meeting at 2 p.m. EDT. Economists expect the Fed's benchmark lending rate to remain in a target range of 1.00 percent to 1.25 percent.
That would mark another pause in the monetary tightening campaign that the Fed began in December 2015. The central bank has raised rates twice this year, including at its last policy meeting in June.
• U.S. Senate Republicans narrowly agreed on Tuesday to open debate on a bill to end Obamacare, but the party's seven-year effort to roll back Democratic President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law still faces significant hurdles.
Senator John McCain, who was diagnosed this month with brain cancer and has been recovering from surgery at home in Arizona, made a dramatic return to the U.S. Capitol to cast a crucial vote in favor of proceeding.
• The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on Russia and force President Donald Trump to obtain lawmakers' permission before easing any sanctions on Moscow, in a rare rebuke of the Republican president.
It was unclear how quickly the bill would make its way to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. The bill still must be passed by the Senate, which is mired in debate over efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system as lawmakers try to clear the decks to leave Washington for their summer recess.
• Draft new U.S. sanctions against Russia leave no room to improve ties between Moscow and Washington in the near future and take the relationship into uncharted waters, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, the Interfax news agency reported.
• Oil prices firmed on Wednesday to hold near eight-week highs hit in the previous session, on expectations of a drawdown in U.S. stocks and as a rise in shale oil production shows signs of slowing.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 41 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $50.61 a barrel by 0617 GMT, after rallying more than 3 percent on Tuesday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 climbed 49 cents, or 1 percent, to $48.38 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters,Investing
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