European and Asian stocks were modestly in the green, with U.S. futures higher, before a critical procedural vote on a Republican health-care bill to repeal Obamacare, while Janet Yellen is set to speak in Washington at 8:45am.
"Warning! US equities can occasionally go down as well as up a lot."
European stocks are modestly in the green as gains in banks and oil companies offset declines in miners. Asian stocks and S&P futures rise with Emerging-market stocks extending their longest winning streak since August on the back of the 5th consecutive daily drop in the USD.
Following bearish reports from Goldman (which tactically downgraded stocks to Neutral for the next three months just hours before the Fed rate hike), RBC and JPM's head quant Marko Kolanovic over the past week, overnight Credit Suisse decided to take the other side of the trade and hiked its year end forecasts for the S&P500, and pretty much every other risk asset, noting that it is happy to "climb the wall of worry", and prefers equities to bonds.
Global markets start the week mixed with Asian stocks rising (Japan was closed for holiday), European stocks sliding, weighed down by declines in oil-and-gas shares and banks, and S&P500 futures also down. The dollar fell to a six-week low, falling four days in a row for the first time since early November as G20 leaders scrap a long-standing commitment to reject all forms of trade protectionism, suggesting the "weak Dollar" camp in Trump's inner circle is winning.