Groundhog Day.

Well, Republicans passed the tax bill – again.

And that means the champagne is getting popped. Only probably not at your house.

.@SenSchumer: "There are only two places where America is popping champagne—the White House and the corporate board rooms, including Trump Tower." https://t.co/bWT1qCgL08 pic.twitter.com/VZyjVf3l8H

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 20, 2017

Now it’s left to Trump to sign this abomination into law, at which point he will have achieved one part of the dual mandate he gave himself: “transform America into a Kleptocracy and then an Autocracy”. Next up, commandeer the Justice Department and shut down the FBI. Even Fox can’t hide it:

Poll: If tax plan became law, you and your family would… pic.twitter.com/VHc90q1LDu

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 20, 2017

At this point, it’s pretty clear that global equities are exhausted with having to “price in U.S. tax overhaul” every single day. Stocks were flat on Wall Street following lackluster sessions in Europe and Asia.

The Treasury selloff continued with 30Y yields now through their 200-DMA for the first time since late October:

5s30s was steeper again today, bringing the WTD steepening to 11bps.

Despite rising yields, the dollar was lower for a third day as “sell the news” continues to dominate greenback sentiment:

The euro briefly hit 1.19 for the first time since December 1:

The bund selloff continued, ahead of the ECB’s last day of public-sector buying on Thursday. 10Y German yields topped 42bps:

BBG's Dobson: "How much of yesterday's yield-curve steepening that was down to Germany's decision to sell a greater amount of 30-year bunds?"

good question. hard to believe that was all based on that Reuters ECB article

— Heisenberg Report (@heisenbergrpt) December 20, 2017

The gains in the euro weighed on European stocks for a second day with the DAX falling more than 1%. European tech stocks fell as much as 1.6%. Basically, this week is now a wash:

A decidedly uninspiring performance for the Stoxx 600 in Q4 has U.S. stocks on pace for their best closing stretch to a year versus their European counterparts in more than a quarter of a century:

Notably, the knee-jerk rise in the krona following the Riksbank decision and the subsequent hint of EURSEK weakness was completely erased over the course of the day:

It was the same old story with the EIA data this week (i.e. U.S. crude stockpiles fell – largest draw since August – but gasoline and distillate stocks rose). Still, oil managed to cling to gains and is sitting at its highest level in two weeks:

Nobody knows what’s going on in the crypto space. As detailed earlier, some folks appear to have been trading ahead of a Coinbase announcement on bitcoin cash and while you can read the entire post for yourself, suffice to say it caused a flash crash in Bitcoin on Tuesday evening amid a sharp rally in BCH:

Finally, compare and contrast…

Trump administration:

Ricky Bobby: