It takes a lot to overshadow a monthly unemployment report, but investors appear to be as focused on the start of a two-day meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that gets under way Thursday, as they are on the closely followed labour market report, writes William Watts for MarketWatch.

It appears Trump will head into the meeting ready to take China to task over trade policy, while Xi is expected to offer, if not concessions, a grab bag of investment promises and other measures that Beijing hopes will be enough to at least ratchet down tensions.