U.S. President Trump's announcement of a......>

FOREX: U.S. President Trump's announcement of a press conference on China to be

held Friday reverberated through the Asia-Pacific session, keeping a lid on risk

sentiment. A pick-up in risk-off activity was observed over the last Tokyo fix

of the month. JPY topped the G10 pile as a result and remains the best performer

in the basket, even as most crosses pulled back from extremes. Month-end flows

took focus as the greenback failed to hold its initial gains. Commodity-tied FX

struggled for impetus as crude oil prices ebbed lower.

- The redback was relatively stable, as participants pondered U.S.-China

matters. USD/CNY reopened on the front foot, but USD/CNH slipped afterwards. The

PBoC continued to bump its USD/CNY mid-point higher and set it at the best level

(i.e. weakest fix) since 2008, though slightly below expectations.

- Final French & Italian GDPs, German retail sales, Norwegian unemployment and

Swedish GDP are due today, while Fed's Powell, ECB's Visco and Riksbank's Ingves

headline the central bank speaker slate.