Weekly Market Commentary 10/20/2017

For the most part Republican legislators have had little to cheer about since racking up enormous victories at the polls last November. Failure to repeal and replace Obamacare highlighted a litany of failures on the legislative front since then, exposing deep rifts within the party and unsettling squabbles with the Republican-in chief residing in the White House. However, the worm may be about to turn, as the strenuous efforts to pass a tax reform bill took a giant step forward late Thursday when the Senate approved a budget resolution. Importantly, the budget blueprint garnered approval by Republican leaders in the House, which makes reconciliation of differences between the two chambers more likely. Assuming a successful compromise is achieved, the passage of a budget resolution unlocks a procedure that enables Republicans to enact a tax bill without any votes from Democrats.