The Trump administration wants its trade war cake and to eat all time highs in the S&P too.

Earlier today, the S&P spiked after the Trump administration appeared to relented, offering Beijing an "olive branch" by agreeing not to use new "harsh" methods to halt China's investments. The trade off, of course, was that Trump was seen as "retreating" to China's position and, or leverage - hardly an enjoyable alternative for the president. 

Which perhaps explains why moments later, Trump's chief economic advisor hit the wires, with a reminder that contrary to the market reaction, Trump was not retreating on China.

• KUDLOW SAYS TRUMP NOT RETREATING ON CHINA
• KUDLOW SAYS U.S. ECONOMY GROWING, WHILE CHINA'S NOT DOING WELL

The immediate reaction was a spike in the dollar which took it to fresh intraday highs...

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While the stock rally promptly fizzled, and after the Dow Jones rose as much as 250 earlier in the day, it has now cut roughly half of those gains, as the market scramble to figure out just what Trump's real position is, and how much the market really has to drop for Trump to relent (incidentally, a topic discussed in "We Now Know What The "Trump Tariff Put" Is").

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