Reuters

The dollar fell on Wednesday, touching its lowest level in more than a month against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc after the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. data and inflation expectations.

Britain slashed its economic growth forecasts and expects to borrow a lot more going into the next decade, finance minister Philip Hammond said, but he nonetheless plans to spend more in the next couple of years to offset the impact of Brexit.

New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods unexpectedly fell in October after three straight months of hefty gains, but a sustained increase in shipments pointed to robust business investment and economic momentum as the year winds down.

The European Central Bank will reaffirm its policy stance at its December meeting, and rate-setters hope to put off debate on new moves until well into next year, five sources with direct knowledge of the discussion told Reuters.

Oil prices spiked on Wednesday with U.S. light crude hitting highs not seen since July 2015 after faults on a major pipeline dented Canadian deliveries to the United States, where crude inventories were also reported to be falling.

Asian shares joined a global rally to reach their highest in a decade on Wednesday as strong world growth and rising corporate profits lured hordes of investors into equities, while oil prices jumped closer to a recent 2-1/2 year top.

British finance minister Philip Hammond will announce on Wednesday how much he can afford to help unhappy voters as he faces a potentially sharp deterioration in the economy’s growth prospects.

The United States, Mexico and Canada failed to resolve any major differences in a fifth round of talks to rework the NAFTA trade deal, drawing a swift complaint from the Trump administration.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stuck by her prediction that U.S. inflation will soon rebound but offered on Tuesday an unusually strong caveat: she is “very uncertain” about this.

The United States, Mexico and Canada were wrapping up a fifth round of talks to update NAFTA on Tuesday with major differences yet to be resolved, casting doubt on whether a deal could be reached by the end of March 2018 as planned.