Ahead of today's US CPI and.........>

US DATA PREVIEW: Ahead of today's US CPI and Retail Sales print, Citi Economists

note "Headline CPI will likely advance 0.1% MoM but slow from 2.2% to 2.0% YoY,"

as the post-hurricane spike in gasoline prices reversed in October. Core CPI

will be the focus of the report as this measure has fallen short of consensus

forecasts in six of the last seven releases.

*On retail sales, Citi Economists say "Nominal retail sales of goods plus food

and beverage services likely declined by 0.1pp in Oct, reflecting a combination

of offsetting hurricane-related effects and continued weakness in electronics

purchases." While hurricane-affected households continued to purchase cars in

Oct, the pace was slower, resulting in a roughly 1.25pp decline in monthly

retail sales.