The Antipodeans took a blow from the latest...>

FOREX: The Antipodeans took a blow from the latest Chinese inflation figures,

with both CPI & PPI undershooting expectations, but are off of worst levels at

writing. The Aussie and kiwi were already under pressure ahead of the data,

after yesterday's BBG story, suggesting that the U.S. & China remain divided re:

some key trade matters, tempered earlier optimism about the ongoing top-level

trade talks. AUD landed at the bottom of the G10 pile as a result. 

- JPY outperformed, as the Nikkei 225 remained in the red, last trading ~1.2%

lower, while USD/JPY slowly worked its way through some domestic megabank bids. 

- USD was also relatively strong, even with BBG/Fox reporting that President

Trump is set to allocate $7/8bn for the border wall. 

- Sterling traded mixed, showed little reaction to a BBG piece suggesting that

"the UK gov't is watering down its request for changes to the contentious Irish

border backstop arrangement," which could enrage eurosceptic Tory MPs. 

- Focus today turns to UK retail sales, as well as U.S. U. of Mich. sentiment &

industrial output. Elsewhere, ECB's Coeure & Angeloni, as well as Fed's Bostic

will speak.