WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is continuing to slide as oil prices sink.
At 0700 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit was trading at 74.54 US cents, down from 74.89 US cents on Tuesday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open slightly lower after Wall Street fell, weighed down by healthcare and materials stocks in quiet trading as cautious investors awaited news from the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.
At 0645 AEDT on Wednesday, the share price index was down seven points at 5,098.
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ELSEWHERE:
LONDON - A decline in Britain's clubbing scene has prompted the statistics agency to drop nightclub entrance charges from the basket of goods and services it uses to calculate inflation - and instead add refill pods for home espresso machines.
WASHINGTON - US retail sales slipped last month, pulled down by sharply lower gas prices, and Americans spent much less in January than previously estimated.
WASHINGTON - US homebuilders remain optimistic that the housing market will improve, but their expectations for sales over the next six months have dimmed just as the spring home-selling season gets under way.
LONDON - French Connection Group Plc has reported a bigger full-year loss after its spring and summer collections failed to capture the imagination of shoppers in a fiercely competitive UK fashion market.
MARIANA, Brazil - In November, Marcos de Freitas lost his home and everything he owned when a dam burst at a nearby mine, releasing a mud flow that buried his village.
