Global FX TESTING DATA:

• • • Asian markets
      
      

       Asian shares gained on Wednesday off a record Wall Street finish and with regional sentiment upbeat.

    • GOLD
      
      
      Gold prices eased in Asia on Wednesday as investors geared for Fed meetings later in the day for more insight on the rate path in 2018.
       
    • OIL
      
      Oil prices rose on Wednesday as ongoing cuts of piped Canadian crude to the United States added to falling U.S. crude inventories, while expectations of a prolonged OPEC-led production cut also offered support.

    • ZIMBAWE
      
      Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president on Tuesday, a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end four decades of rule by a man once feted as an independence hero who became feared as a despot.

    • AFRICA
      
      African leaders were embarrassed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and already encouraging him to step down before the army began moves last week to oust him, according to a secret Zimbabwean intelligence cable seen by Reuters.
       
    • UN
      
      The U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia delivers its verdict on Wednesday in the trial of Ratko Mladic, the ex-Bosnian Serb military commander charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.
       
    • WASHINGTON
      
      Half a year ago, the political stars seemed perfectly aligned for a deep reform of the European Union and its euro currency.Emmanuel Macron had won the French presidency on a promise to relaunch Europe. And Angela Merkel, on track to win a fourth term as German chancellor, looked ready to embrace his bold vision, telling an audience in Bavaria that it was time for Europe to take its fate into its own hands.
       
    • NORTH KOREA
      
      North Korean border guards were only steps behind a North Korean soldier when they opened fire and one briefly crossed the border pursuing the wounded defector as he dashed to the South Korean side, a video released on Wednesday by the U.N. Command (UNC) in Seoul showed.
       
    • JAPAN
      
      The timing of Emperor Akihito’s abdication, Japan’s first in nearly two centuries, is to be discussed by a special panel that will meet from Dec. 1.
       
    • AUSTRALIA
      

      Australia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that asylum seekers occupying an abandoned Australian-run detention camp in Papua New Guinea (PNG) can relocate to alternative accommodation, challenging United Nations claims that the substitute site is unfinished and inadequate.