House and Senate to vote on tax bill in mid-week

The US equity market and the ICE US dollar index advanced last week as Federal Reserve hiked interest rates quarter percentage points. The SP 500 rose 0.9% and the ICE dollar index inched up 0.03% for the week.

The SP 500 advanced in every session last week except Wednesday and Thursday. It rose 0.2% Tuesday as US producer price index jumped 0.4% on month in November, gaining 3.1% over the past 12 months. The broad market fell 0.4% Wednesday as the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.25% - 1.5% range. SP 500 rallied 0.9% Friday on growing expectations of the Republican tax bill passage.

The ICE dollar index advanced in every session except Wednesday last week. It slumped 0.7% Wednesday as the consumer price index climbed 0.4% in November, but core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose a smaller than expected 0.1%. The dollar rose 0.3% Thursday as retail sales climbed 0.8% in November, after 0.3% gain in previous month. The dollar index gained 0.2% on Friday as capacity utilization hit a 2.5-year high at 77.1% for November, compared with a 77.0% in October.

US tax bill progress will dominate economic news landscape in coming days with the House and Senate votes on the legislation planned for the mid-week. The Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision will be released on Thursday followed by the final estimate of the US third quarter GDP. Japanese policy makers are expected to hold monetary policy steady. The UK will publish the update of third quarter GDP on Friday.