The U.S. trade delegation is a meeting with its Chinese counterpart in Beijing today, and what have become the usual optimistic noises from both sides are being heard. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is quoted as saying he hopes that negotiations will be wrapped up when Vice-Premier Liu and his team return to Washington next week. Markets are ignoring these comments and, in fact, are ignoring the negotiations themselves. When it comes to a possible trade agreement, traders are in a “wake me when it is over and tell me what it says” mode. Rains fell over much of the Midwest late last weekend with more forecast later this week. The longer-term outlook is for bands of heavy rain to cross from the eastern Plains to the East Coast every...