Weighing the Week Ahead: Plenty of Cross-Winds for Santa

The economic calendar is normal, but there are plenty of cross-currents from other major events. Bitcoin futures, the FOMC meeting, more debate on the tax legislation, the Alabama special Senate election, and an avalanche of 2018 forecasts.

It is the time of year when the punditry looks for the nearly-annual Santa Claus rally. This year, that jolly old elf may need a GPS system to navigate the cross-currents. I expect many to be asking:

Is a Santa Claus rally possible?

Last Week Recap

In the last edition of WTWA I took note of the strengthening economic outlook and predicted that attention would turn to the effects of the tax cut legislation. That shot hit the mark, but Mrs. OldProf was not impressed. She said the shot did not require Steph Curry! (And I thought she was skipping the basketball section of PTI).

The pundits pondered, and the market reacted. Little was determined, and there are plenty of tax implications to wonder about in the week ahead.

The Story in One Chart

I always start my personal review of the week by looking at a great chart.Investing.com has a nice interactive version of futures trading with news. Check out the site to have some fun.

Compared to recent days, it seemed like there was a lot of volatility. The range was actually only 1.5%. Some week we will see some real volatility. The market weathered questions about problems in the tax bill and the debt limit.