Dow 30

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

Good cheer has arrived at precisely the perfect moment.  You can really see it.  Record stock prices, stout economic growth, and a GOP tax reform bill to boot.  Has there ever been a more flawless week leading up to Christmas?

We can’t think of one off hand.  And if we could, we wouldn’t let it detract from the present merriment.  Like bellowing out the verses of Joy to the World at a Christmas Eve candlelight service, it sure feels magnificent – don’t it?

Authored by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

President Trump, every Republican senator, and the GOP majority in Speaker Paul Ryan’s House just put the future of their party on the line.

By enacting the largest tax cut since the Reagan administration, the heart of which is cutting the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent, Republicans have boldly bet the farm.

Everything changed in December...

For months, the so-called "Smart Money" has been on-board with the incessant rally in US equity markets, buying every dip - no matter how shallow.

However, since the end of November, a very different regime appeared to take hold.

U.S. equity futures are little changed with the GOP Tax Plan now a done deal and no more daily "pricing in" of tax reform possible, as traders nerviously look to see if others will now be "selling the news", a preview of which we got yesterday when US equity indexes closed red across the board despite Trump's biggest legislative win to date, while bonds were spooked by the blowout in government debt needed to fund the giveaways.