Wednesday's Market Recap - GOP Tax Cut Passes In House And Senate. Markets Are Cautious.

What is The Premarket Telling Us?

US stock futures are all up, two and a half hours before market close. Dow futures up 81 points, Nasdaq up 22.50 points, S&P up 7.75 points. Asian markets closed mixed overnight.

On The Bond Desk:

The US 10 year bond yield has ticked higher at 2.46%, up 0.07%, or seven basis points.

Currency Desk:

Euro dollar at 1.18

UK Pound at 1.33

Crude Oil:

WTI crude oil futures pushing steadily higher, $57.76/barrel, up 0.35%.

On the Earnings Calendar:

Strong quarterly earnings results from FedX and Carnival is also a positive catalyst for markets today.

In M&A News:

None.

What About The Asian And European Markets?

Asian markets closed mixed in their session; Japan (Nikkei 225) up 0.10%, Shanghai down 0.07%, and Hong Kong (Hang Seng) down 0.27%.

European markets close the day lower; Germany DAX down 0.25%, France CAC 40 lower by 0.56%, London FTSE 100 down 0.25%.

Market And Sector Dynamics

Stock opened higher this morning; The Dow added 94 points, Nasdaq added 27 points, and the S&P gained 9 points. The Senate passed the GOP tax bill overnight, giving investors reason to continue pushing shares higher. Strong quarterly earning results from FedX, also helped to push markets higher early.

Stocks went negative half way through the morning session, and pretty much remained at that level for the remainder of the session.

On the day when the final vote on the GOP tax bill took place in the House of Representative, stock hung close to and just below the flat line for the entire session. While investors agree that corporate tax cuts, with help with economic growth, no one thinks that growth will be enough to pay for the tax give away. In other words, this tax cut is not revenue neutral.

Six of the eleven S&P sectors ended lower, led by utilities, healthcare, and financials. Basic materials, energy and industrials outperformed on the upside.

Factors Influencing Today's Market

• Final votes on the The GOP tax cut bill concluded today, and it now ready for the President's signature.

• Strong quarterly earnings from FedX.

• Crude oil prices rose in today's session. WTI crude oil closed at $58.05/barrel, up 1.03%.

• The US 10 year bond yield hit 2.50% intraday.

• Existing Home Sales jumps 5.6%, the highest level in eleven years.

Market Close Volume Traded And Advance Decline Ratio

At the close of trading the Dow lost 28.10 points, Nasdaq lost 2.89 points, and the S&P down 2.22 points. Total NYSE volume traded, 3.04 billion shares. Advancing shares Declining shares were even.

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