With stocks itching for a new excuse to levitate higher, they got that overnight when a Reuters report on fresh "progress" in the U.S.-China trade talks and renewed "optimism" in a trade deal helped propel world stock markets to a 6-month high on steered investors away from save havens such as the Japanese yen, even as 10Y treasury yields dipped modestly, as the same catalyst that has driven stocks higher on virtually every single day in the past quarter has continued to do so again and again, right out of the cult groundhog movie.

"It seems like bullish sentiment has decent grip for now and everyone is focused on the year to date performance of the equity markets," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd in London.