A December Hike And Yellen’s Last Hurrah: Full Week Ahead Preview

So the tax bill and Bitcoin will be front and center in the week ahead and there’s more than a little irony in that.

Unless the conference committee goes completely off the rails and barring some kind of last minute wave of GOP dissent, things are still on track for getting this done by the end of the year. According to sources, Trump will make his “closing argument” for the tax cuts on Wednesday at a speech in Washington (“God blesh these United Shhates“).

Let’s just be clear on something: this is not aimed at the middle class and everyone knows it. Independent studies show this disproportionately benefits corporations and the wealthy and that’s hardly surprising considering the source. So when you hear Pence pitching this as a “middle-class miracle” just know that he is lying to you, plain and simple:

As I said on the @HowieCarrShow earlier, when you add together middle-class tax relief w/ lower tax rates for businesses, this TAX CUTS bill fits @POTUS‘ vision of a “middle-class miracle” & we will do everything in our power to get it to the President’s desk before Christmas. pic.twitter.com/Jk2ZT3G66N

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) December 5, 2017

The CBOE launches Bitcoin futures on Sunday and between that and last Thursday’s insanity, you can bet folks will be preoccupied all week with the crypto space – even more than usual.

Meanwhile, we’ll get a ton on the central bank front, with the Fed taking center stage. A December hike is baked into the cake (it’s ~90% priced in as is always the case in a world where the Fed cannot move without the market’s permission).

You’re reminded that the dollar is coming off one of its best weeks of the year and is riding a five-session winning streak, the best run since March:

This will be Janet Yellen’s last presser as Fed Chair, so whatever you need to do to prepare yourself mentally for that, go ahead and get started. Here’s what BofAML is expecting from her final performance: