WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is lower as investors take profits following two days of gains for risk currencies and stock markets.
At 0630 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit was trading at 95.11 US cents, down from 95.33 cents on Tuesday.
And the Australian market looks set to open lower following falls on Wall Street as optimism of a deal being reached on the US debt ceiling ebbed.
At 0715 AEDT on Wednesday, the December share price index futures contract was down 16 points at 5,233.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
ELSEWHERE:
WASHINGTON - The latest effort by House Republicans to offer a compromise to resolve an impasse over the federal budget and debt limit has been rejected by the White House before any vote in the opposition-led lower chamber of Congress.
LUXEMBOURG - EU finance ministers have taken a key step towards a 'Banking Union', the new regulatory framework meant to prevent any repeat of the financial meltdown which plunged Europe into crisis.
NICOSIA - Cyprus's EU partners will stand by its side as the island treads the painful road to recovery from near economic meltdown, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy says.
LISBON - Portugal's finance minister says government workers earning more than 600 euros ($A863.74) a month will have their pay cut by up to 12 per cent next year - part of the latest round of austerity measures being enacted in return for a 78 billion-euro international bailout in 2011.
PARIS - Employment in the countries that make up the OECD rose to 65.1 per cent of working-age people in the second quarter, the organisation says, higher than in the previous quarter, but short of pre-crisis levels.
NEW YORK - US banking giant Citigroup has reported third-quarter results that missed expectations, citing a "challenging" environment.
NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey - Health care giant Johnson & Johnson's third-quarter profit has edged up as a big jump in prescription drug sales and lower research spending made up for slumping sales of medical devices.
NEW YORK - Coca-Cola says its profit have risen in the third-quarter as the world's biggest beverage maker managed to sell more of its drinks despite choppy economic conditions.
LONDON - Shares in British postal operator Royal Mail have rallied further when formal trading of the stock began following a controversial part-privatisation.
