Equity markets in the U.S. treaded water as China's Lucy appears to be once again pulling the football from the Linus Trump White House trade team.

Good economic data helped bonds sell off in the meantime.

Beijing wants Washington to make a solid commitment towards removing tariffs, saying that without this move a visit to the US by President Xi Jinping would be politically difficult, according to a source familiar with internal government discussions, reported the South China Morning Post.

ISM non-manufacturing index came in at 54.7, as compared with a 53.5 consensus estimate.

However, job openings fell. The latest JOLTS released today by the BLS confirmed that US workers are going through a decidedly rough patch, as the total number of job openings tumbled, and after last month's 7.051 million total was revised sharply higher to 7.301 million, it tumbled again, sliding by 277K to 7.024 million, below the 7.063 million expected, and the lowest number in 17 months, since March 2018, reported Zero Hedge.

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