Friday's Market Recap - Stocks Moderately Lower As Former National Security Adviser, Flynn, Plea

What is The Premarket Telling Us?

7:00 AM.

US stock index futures are under pressure this morning. Dow futures down 89 points, Nasdaq futures down 48.5 points, S&P futures down 13 points. Investors are laser focused on the Senate tax bill, which as of yesterday evening was suppose to be almost a done deal. However, overnight, as the GOP struggled to get the 50 votes, a wrinkle developed with one of the fixes that were initiated to accommodate one Senator's vote, and it had to be scrapped. As a result the futures have been mostly lower in the early going.

On The Bond Desk:

The US 10 year bond yield had ticked up at 2.42%, up 0.04% or 4 basis points.

Currency Desk:

Euro dollar at 1.18

UK Pound at 1.35

Crude Oil:

WTI crude oil futures are lower at $57.73/barrel, down 0.45%.

On the Earnings Calendar:

None

In M&A News:

None

What About The Asian And European Markets?

Asian markets were mostly mixed in their session; Japan (Nikkei 225 up 0.41%, Shanghai up 0.01%, and Hong Kong (Hang Seng) lost 0.35%.

European markets closed mostly lower; Germany DAX down 1.25%, France CAC 40 lost 1.04%, London FTSE 100 fell 0.36%.

Market And Sector Dynamics

Stocks opened mixed, with the Dow gaining 40 points, Nasdaq fell 28 points, and the S&P down 1.29 points. As lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue deliberations on the Senate tax bill, markets are feeling more hopefully that despite last night's delay, the bill could pass today.

In the mid-morning, markets got a big surprise, when new broke that former Trump administration, National Security Adviser, will today plead guilty to lying to the FBI, and would indicate that President Trump, instructed him to contact Russia. The Dow immediately sank more than 350 points, on that news. Stocks recovered some of the morning losses, when Senate Majority Leader announced that he has the 50 votes necessary to pass the tax bill. Markets recovered most of the losses as the afternoon session went on.

Seven of the eleven S&P sectors traded lower in the session, led by industrials, technology, and utilities. Both the early selloff and the recovery was orderly.

Factors Influencing Today's Market

• Former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the FBI in Russia probe.

• Senate Majority leader announced around midday, that he has the votes to pass the tax cut bill.

• Crude oil traded higher in today's session. WTI crude oil closed at $58.36/barrel, up 1.67%.

• This week's Baker Hughes Oil Rig count up 2 rigs to 749 total.

• November Motor Vehicle Sales came in as expected, at 17.5 million annualized rate.

Market Close Volume Traded And Advance Decline Ratio

At the end of trading markets were mostly lower. The Dow fell 40.76 points, Nasdaq fell 26.39 points, S&P down 5.36 points. Total NYSE volume traded, 3.95 billion shares. Advancers and Decliners were mostly even.

Data Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN Money, Google Finance, Market Watch, TD Ameritrade, Yahoo Finance.