The dollar held steady against the other major currencies on Wednesday, as investors were eyeing the release of U.S. housing sector data due later in the day and received a break from a week filled with remarks from Federal Reserve officials.

May existing home sales will be the only economic report of reference for market players at 14:00 GMT Wednesday in a week that has been sparse in major data points. To the contrary, Wednesday marked a pause in what has been a deluge of comments from Fed policymakers.

Among the most market-moving remarks, New York Fed president William Dudley gave support to the dollar on Monday as he reinforced expectations for rate hikes, though Chicago Fed chief Charles

Evans followed up with indications that he felt the central bank could wait until the end of the year for further increases.

At 9:59 GMT, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down just 0.07% at 97.33.

Global traded mostly lower on Tuesday, following Wall Street’s lead from the prior session, as oil’s official entrance into bear-market territory damaged risk appetite.

European equities traded sharply lower on Wednesday, led by losses in the financial sector as an ongoing decline in oil prices weighed on energy stocks.

Earlier, China’s Shanghai Composite was an exception to the rule as the index closed with gains of 0.5% thanks to news that MSCI would include Chinese stocks in emerging market indices.

Oil continued to edge down on Tuesday after West Texas Intermediate officially closed in bear market territory the prior session, oil tumbled with U.S. crude officially entering a bear market Tuesday, down 21% since a $55.24 per barrel high touched on January 3.

The steady increase in U.S. shale production coupled with output gains from Libya and Nigeria, who are exempt from the OPEC-led production cut agreement, stoked worries over the supply glut.

Meanwhile, markets had a muted reaction to news that Saudi Arabia has relieved Muhammad bin Nayef as crown prince, replacing him with Mohammad bin Salman in a sudden shift that made King Salman’s 31-year old son next in line to rule the world’s largest oil exporter.

Markets also looked ahead to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s release of its official weekly oil supplies report at 14:30 GMT Wednesday, amid expectations for a drawdown of around 2.1 million barrels.

After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by a more-than-expected 2.72 million barrels in the week ended June 16.

The British pound briefly dropped below $1.26 on Tuesday, passing below that level for the first time since mid-April when U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May called snap elections in what turned out to be a move that cost her Conservative party the majority in the government.

On the back of yesterday’s drop g due to the Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s insistence that it was not the time to raise rates, investors showed concern over apparent tensions between the Conservative party and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party as they attempt to hammer out a deal to lead the government forward in Brexit negotiations.

The Queen’s Speech was scheduled to take place at 10:30 GMT and was expected to focus precisely on the negotiations with the European Union as they try to reach agreements in the lead up to Britain’s departure from the bloc.

Uber Technologies co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down as chief executive under intense pressure from five of the firm’s large investors that called for his resignation.

Kalanick had faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks following an investigation into the culture and workplace practices at the ride-services company he helped start in 2009 and is now the world's most highly valued startup.

Uber had hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to look into company practices after a female former employee publicly accused the company of what she described as brazen sexual harassment.