Check out the 5 most important things to know for today.

 

1. Fed blackout period silences policymakers

Both gold and the dollar struggled to find direction on Wednesday in the countdown to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) September 20-21 meeting began.

With the blackout period in full swing, financial markets would be without further remarks from Fed officials until the policy announcement with most eyes looking ahead to Thursday’s retail sales or Friday’s inflation data for indications of their effect on the rate hike outlook.

Markets appeared to balance hawkish comments from Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren last week with Fed governor Lael Brainard’s dovish remarks on Monday, leaning towards Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart’s stance that a “serious discussion” on rates would be warranted at next week’s meeting.

Fed fund futures put the chance of a rate hike on September 21 at just 15%. for a December move were at 55.5% on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched forward 140 cents, or 0.11%, to trade at $1,325.10, by 9:52AM GMT while U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.07% at 95.47.

 

2. Bayer expected to net Monsanto in year’s biggest acquisition

German chemicals and healthcare group Bayer AG was rumored to be set to announce the acquisition of U.S. seeds company Monsanto Co on Wednesday for more than $66 billion in what would be the year’s biggest deal.

Shares of Monsanto were up 2% in pre-market trade even though the offer is expected to fall short of the $130 per share that the company had been hoping to achieve.

 

3. Oil edges higher amid bets for bullish inventory data

Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday, ahead of official crude stockpile data.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 14:30GMT amid analyst expectations for an increase of 3.8 million barrels.

After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels in the week ended September 9.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 0.56% to $45.15 at 9:54AM GMT, while Brent oil rose 0.36% to $47.27.

 

4. BoJ may cut rates further into negative territory

The yen slipped across the board against major rivals on Wednesday on a report that the Bank of Japan was considering making negative interest rates the centerpiece of further policy easing.

The report suggested that the Japanese monetary authority was planning to focus more on interest rates, rather than bond purchases, although the sources cited suggested that there was still no consensus on whether the BoJ would make a move at next week’s policy meeting.

 

5. U.K. data and EU play down Brexit impact

Data out Wednesday showed that unemployment in the U.K. remained unchanged at 4.9% in July, dampening concerns that the June 23 decision to leave the European Union (EU), known as a Brexit, was hampering the British economy.

Adding fuel to the argument that the decision was having little impact, the employment rate remained at a record high of 74.5%.

Separately, European Commisioner Jean-Claude Juncker shrugged off concerns for the bloc, stating that Britain’s decision to leave did not mark the end of the UE.