Overnight

A strong yen led the early morning trading overnight as the Nikkei fell 1.8%, roughly 286 points, to trade at 16,388.61 putting further pressure on Japanese exporters. The dollar/yen ratio is important ot manufacturers since many were calculating the dollar  to trade at 105 instead of below that level now for nearly two months. Banks and insurance companies also fell. Wednesday morning the dollar was at 100.470 yen.

The WSJ reported Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was unchanged, but Korea’s Kospi was 0.4% lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite declined by 0.1%. Taiwan’s markets were shut due to a typhoon. Oil prices recovered in early Asia trade, with Nymex up 27 cents at $44.94 a barrel and the international benchmark Brent higher by 34 cents at $46.31 a barrel. “Crude oil is in focus today as the U.S. API [American Petroleum Institute] will release its inventory figures and the OPEC meeting is expected to conclude,” said Alex Wijaya, a senior sales trader at CMC Markets.

Back in the U.S. the Conference Board’s consumer-confidence index rose in September to its highest level in nine years, data showed Tuesday, putting what some say is the"final domestic nail" the Fed needs to seal its case for raising interest rates. It was its highest level since August 2007, the start of the financial crisis that led to the 2007-09 recession. Meanwhile, the dollar declined 0.5% and gold pushed 1.0% lower on that bit of  news and what many are calling a Clinton debate win that hiked her poll ratings Tuesday.