The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes from the November 1–2 meeting will be published today at 19:00GMT. Traders will be looking for confirmation of comments from Chair Janet Yellen and other policy members that have hinted strongly at a December rate hike. The U.S. central bank has kept rates unchanged in 2016 after making only one adjustment in 2015. Today’s other big announcements are US Unemployment Claims at 13:30GMT and Crude Oil Inventories at 15:30GMT.

Currencies:  The dollar is advancing on the back of a higher than 90 percent probability of a December rate hike by the Fed as per the Fed’s funds future prices. Comments from Fed members signaling action from the central bank have been popping up everywhere. Ahead of the FOMC minutes and Thanksgiving holiday, USD is raging against its major counterparts.

Oil and Gold: Brent was down -0.26% to trade around $49 mark while WTI lost -0.23% to 47.92 levels. Oil prices are consolidating yesterday’s losses, as uncertainty increases over a potential OPEC output agreement likely to be reached on Nov 30. Gold prices extended their rebound from nine-month lows to have back-to-back gains on Tuesday as the rally in the U.S. dollar stalled. The metal is currently trading at $1214.

Stocks: Global stocks rose on Tuesday, buoyed by Wall Street’s close at a record high and hopes that OPEC will support the price of oil with a production cut. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index added 0.3 percent to finish at 18,162.94 after dipping briefly following a powerful earthquake in northern Japan that set off a small tsunami but caused minor damage and injuries.