Quick Overview

• The Fed on Tuesday halted a more than two-year string of interest-rate rises, holding its benchmark rate steady at 5.25% while it gauges whether a slowing economy will keep inflation in check.
  
  

• The confidence of American consumers fell slightly in the latest week, with gasoline prices still high amid signs of a slowing economy, ABC News and The Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  
  

• The Labor Department said that business productivity increased 1.1% YoY in the second quarter, down from YoY rate of 4.3% in the first quarter.
  

• Japan's July bank lending rose 2.2% YoY which was the fastest pace in a decade.
  
  

• Germany's June industrial production fell -0.4%, which was weaker than the consensus expectation of +0.3%.