Firm risk appetite weighed on the safe........>

FOREX: Firm risk appetite weighed on the safe haven FX space, with JPY leading

losses among the G10 currencies. JPY had struggled from off before coming under

fresh pressure pre-Tokyo fix, and reported post-fix USD/JPY sales by real-money

Japanese accounts did not manage to drive JPY crosses far from best levels.

- The Aussie was buoyed by the aforementioned positive risk sentiment.

- Worth mentioning NZD crosses posted a leg lower in the NY/Asia crossover,

after RBNZ Gov Orr said that the Bank's recent easing bias is "the starting

point" for the new MPC. Orr's comments came before JP Morgan said that they now

expect the RBNZ to cut the OCR at both of its May & June meetings.

- Sterling climbed in the wake of yesterday's plunge, with lawmakers preparing

for the "meaningful vote 2.5" on PM May's withdrawal agreement (w/o the

accompanying political declaration re: ties with EU), scheduled for later today.

- Focus today turns to UK & Canadian GDPs, flash Italian and French CPIs, German

& Norwegian unemployment data, as well as U. of Mich. survey, MNI Chicago PMI &

personal income/spending data from the U.S. Elsewhere, Fed's Kaplan and Quarles,

as well as ECB's Coeure are due to speak.