Foreign exchange market. American session: the Canadian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar due to weaker-than-expected Canadian wholesale sales

The U.S. dollar traded higher against the most major currencies amid the release of Federal Reserve's meeting minutes on Wednesday. Market participants are awaiting the Fed's view of the economy. Recently published U.S. economic data was mixed and showed uneven recovery of the U.S. economy.

The euro traded lower against the U.S. dollar due to expectations for further stimulus measures by European Central Bank and the weak growth figures in the Eurozone, published last week.

The producer price index in Germany decreased 0.1% in April, from a 0.3% decrease in March. Analysts had expected 0.0%. On a yearly basis, the German producer price index declined 0.9% in April (March: -0.9%). Analysts had forecasted a 0.7% decrease.

The British pound increased against the U.S. dollar after the release of the better-than-expected U.K. inflation data. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the inflation figures. On a yearly basis, the U.K. consumer price index increased 1.8% in April, from a 1.6% rise in March. Analysts had forecasted a 1.7% gain. On a monthly basis, the U.K. consumer price index climbed 0.4% in April, from a 0.2% rise in March. Analysts had forecasted a 0.3% increase.

The raise of the consumer price index was driven by the by transport and motoring costs.

The published consumer price index showed that the growth of the inflation is faster than the growth of wages. U.K. wages including bonuses increased 1.7% in March.

U.K. house prices climbed 8.0% in March, from 9.2% in February.

The Canadian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar due to weaker-than-expected Canadian wholesale sales. Wholesale sales in Canada declined 0.4% in March, from a 1.1% rise in February. Analysts had expected a 0.5% gain.

The New Zealand dollar decreased against the U.S. dollar. No economic data was published in New Zealand.

The Australian dollar dropped to 2-week lows against the U.S. dollar after the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s meeting minutes. The Reserve Bank Australia's policy meeting showed that the bank plans to maintain interest rates at record lows for a longer period of time because the "overall growth in coming quarters is likely to be below trend."

The Conference Board released its leading index for Australia. The index was flat in March, after a 0.2% rise in February. February’s figure was revised down from a 0.3% gain.