Familiar fillips to risk appetite spilled.....>

FOREX: Familiar fillips to risk appetite spilled over into the Asia-Pac session,

with resultant flows accelerating after BBG reported that the White House is

preparing a $1tn infrastructure spending plan, even as the piece noted that the

package is still in the draft stage. Little to rock the boat in today's monetary

policy decision from the BoJ, but the ratcheting up of their corporate credit

provisions may have added some fuel to broader risk rally. Positive sentiment

stoked demand for commodity-tied FX, while GBP may have been aided by Brexit

reports suggesting that the UK & EU are ready to soften demands. The yen was the

worst G10 performer, as it sank alongside USD & CHF. 

- USD/CNH ebbed lower as aforementioned risk-on cocktail allowed the redback to

look through a continued increase in new Covid-19 cases in China, which prompted

Beijing to shutter more areas. KRW led gains in Asian EM basket, despite the

intensification in North Korea's combative rhetoric.

- Focus on the data front turns to German ZEW Survey & CPI (f), UK labour mkt

data, U.S. retail sales & industrial output. Today's central bank speaker slate

features Fed's Powell & Clarida, ECB's Visco and BoC's Macklem.