Maduro's government has received vital equipment for its oil industry from Iran, which in return has received crude and other primary resources from the South American country.
Russia says it wants NATO to halt its eastwards expansion and is seeking guarantees that the Western military alliance will not deploy certain offensive weapons to Ukraine.
The deal is Microsoft's second biggest after its $26.2 billion LinkedIn purchase in 2016, and would boost its presence in cloud services for healthcare
The banks' move comes after the UAE said on Dec. 7 that it would shift to a four-and-a-half day week with a Saturday-Sunday weekend from the start of next year.
The dollar index was off nearly 1% since Wednesday's high immediately after the Federal Reserve said it would accelerate tapering of its emergency bond buying programme.