In Asian Equity Markets indices  were mixed on Wednesday. Australia’s ASX 200 traded largely flat at about 6,047.4, with most sectors in positive territory. Shares of the country’s largest private education company Navitas jumped as much as 21.5 percent after the company announced it had received a  $1.4 billion buyout offer from a consortium. In the Greater China region, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong advanced by 0.86 percent in early trading action. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lose some of its earlier gains but remained up by 0.14 percent.

In Currency Markets the US dollar fell further from seven-week highs on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury yields edged lower overnight while sterling took some comfort on hopes Britain and the European Union might be close to a Brexit deal. The Chinese yuan held steady near a seven-week low against the greenback after a liquidity squeeze in the offshore yuan market in Hong Kong on Tuesday helped stabilize sentiment. The Australian dollar pulled 0.2 percent higher to $0.7117, away from a 32-month trough of $0.7041 hit early this week.

In Commodities Markets oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after the IMF lowered its global growth forecasts but prices were supported as Hurricane Michael churned toward Florida, causing the shutdown of nearly 40 percent of U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude output. Brent crude futures were down 2 cents at $84.98 a barrel, after a 1.3 percent gain on Tuesday. US. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down by 16 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $74.8 a barrel, after rising nearly 1 percent in the previous session.

In US Equity Markets the Dow and S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Tuesday as investors, worried about global growth prospects. The S&P 500 lost 0.14 percent, to 2,880.34 and the Nasdaq Composite ended flat at 7,738.02. The trade-sensitive industrials sector lost 1.5 percent with help from airline stocks, which fell 3 percent. Along with chemicals companies, paper packaging stocks WestRock and Packaging Corp of America both fell 8 percent, after BMO flagged the risk of rising industry supply.

In Bond Markets U.S. long-dated Treasury yields fell on Tuesday in choppy trading, as investors took a respite from selling bonds that took rates to multi-year highs following recent economic data and on interest rate prospects over the next year and a half. The bond market was closed on Monday for the Columbus Day holiday. Benchmark U.S. 10-year yields earlier touched a 7-1/2-year peak, while those on 30-year bonds hit a more than four-year high. Yields on 7-year notes rose as well, climbing to their highest in more than eight years