Finance news you need to know today

BILLIONAIRE Microsoft founder Bill Gates has opened an account on Chinese messaging application WeChat and greeted his followers in Mandarin.

HERE are eight things making news in business and finance around the world today.

1. SYDNEY — The Australian market looks set to open higher following gains on Wall Street where indexes again hit record highs after the Federal Reserve head hinted it could soon raise its interest rate. At 0700 AEDT on Wednesday, the share price futures index was up 20 points at 5,722.

2. SYDNEY — The Australian dollar is lower against its US counterpart which gained strength after Dr Yellen’s comments. The local currency was trading at 76.51 US cents at 0700 AEDT on Wednesday, from 76.74 on Tuesday.

3. WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will likely need to raise interest rates at an upcoming meeting, Fed Chair Janet Yellen says, although she flagged considerable uncertainty over economic policy under the Trump administration.

4. BRUSSELS — Economic growth in the eurozone rose by 0.4 per cent at the end of 2016 compared to the previous quarter, the EU’s statistics office says.

5. STOCKHOLM — Brexit minister David Davis says the UK government is on course to meet its end-March deadline to launch the formal divorce procedure from the European Union but did not see Britain doing so at an EU summit next month.

6. WASHINGTON — A federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a Volkswagen AG settlement to pay at least $US1.22 billion ($A1.59 billion) to fix or buy back nearly 80,000 polluting US 3.0 litre diesel-engine vehicles.

7. SEOUL — “We have filed for an arrest warrant for Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and President Park Sang-jin today,” the prosecution office said in a statement.

8. BEIJING — US billionaire Bill Gates has opened an account on Chinese messaging application WeChat and greeted his followers in Mandarin, China Daily reported.