This is the song. If theyre going to pick a song, im glad its mariah ca y carey. My wife would agree welcome in to Worldwide Exchange. Good morning, everyone. Its throwback thursday, were taking you back with some holiday classics, like Mariah Careys all i want for christmas is you. A quick check on futures we are seeing at least a bit of market stability for now if you look at futures picture, the s p indicated to open up by two points dow jones up by 2. 5, the nasdaq off by 5 or 6. Weve seen a run up over the last couple of days on the hopes of tax legislation passing through Congress Everything going on there. A big deal for the markets for this morning, a bit of a pause after that bullish action. Well see what happens. On that note, lets look at our top story. Tax reform and Congress Giving final approval for a 1 1. 5 trillion tax cut tracie potts is live in washington with the latest good morning reporter good morning, everyone it looks like that may be shortlived, the victory lap that republicans are taking over this tax reform bill, because now theyre facing another critical deadline, the budget tomorrow its always fun when you win. Reporter President Trump and republicans taking a victory lap on tax cuts. The message to the hard working taxpayers of america is your tax relief is on its way. Reporter their celebration could be shortlived congress has less than 48 hours to come up with a budget and avoid a government shutdown. Democrats say since republicans are in charge, they have to fix it they have the votes, they have the signature, so they have the power. Reporter no budget leaves Childrens Health insurance up in the air a new report says 2 million kids could lose funding in january if congress doesnt act now for us its keeping him alive. The parents of 9 million children are counting on us to renew the programs funding. Reporter also up in the air, disaster relief, domestic surveillance, lo subsidies and protection for immigrants how many kids will be protected . More than 800,000 . How many more . How long will it take to achieve a status where they can become citizens. Reporter the senate cannot pass a budget without a few democrats on board picking and choosing what you want to get done and telling us to do it, that wont work this time. Reporter a budget showdown just before christmas. It looks like lawmakers are going to do what they did last time, which is look into a shortterm budget, keep the lights on, government paychecks running before christmas and that would push a lot of those decisions into midjanuary that would be really tough for Childrens Health insurance. Another bandaid came down the road, you pick your cliche, its owl there. Corporate america is sharing the wealth after that landmark tax reform bill. Landon dowdy has more on the details about who is doing what. Good morning. Corporate america reacting to the biggest overhaul of the u. S. Tax code in 30 years promising more pay for workers or more investment in training at t saying it will pay 1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees and invest in 1 billion in the United States once the tax bill is signed into law. Cnbc Parent Company comcast also sharing the wealth saying it will give 1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees and invest 50 billion over the next five years in its infrastructure we also heard from boeing, the Aerospace Giant says it will invest 300 million in work forc training and facility enhancements for employees the banking world is reacting. Wells fargo and Fifth Third Bank are raising minimum wage to 15 an hour. Fifth third is also handing out bonuses to its employees well see if this trend continues throughout the day back over to you guys. Thank you lets talk more about this with ben white, chief economic correspondent and author of the Morning Money column at politico good morning to you. There was an assumption the tax bill would only be used towards buybacks, but these announcements that were seeing, is that a suggestion that the president is putting more pressure on the corporations to use the money not just on buybacks but wages and employees . Im certain hes putting pressure on them, and the white house enjoying these announcements from Corporate America on bonuses and investments. This is a longterm big macro play on the tax reform bill. I dont read a whole lot into the initial announcements from the companies, its good pr, but what happens longterm there will be a lot of buybacks, Dividend Payments and will they use more cash than they would have otherwise i dont know that answer we watch this play out over years, not a couple days worth of corporate pr. So theres no doubt that the timing was made to tie in to the idea of tax reform theres no doubt theres a pr stunt element to many of these announcements. However its hard to say to people that were giving you 1,000 and were not telling you well pay you more money is there something positive to be said for this are people going to end up making more money because of these things are corporations lying when they say tax reform will help them pay people more or help them invest more in infrastructure . I dont know that theyre lying. I think they believe thats the case if you have a lower Corporate Tax rate, you have more money on the balance sheet, youre paying less to the government, so you can theoretically pay your people more and invest more in the u. S. They dont make their decisions based on the tax rate, they make decisions on is there demand for the market, is there a Broader Market to sell into. This is one piece that could be beneficial for them. I think the longterm bet is that if we have a more competitive Corporate Tax system, there is more incentive to grow in the u. S. Versus abroad and spend your money on your workers and investments. But this is a play that theyre looking at several years worth before we know the extent to which its really led to higher wages, higher worker productivity and whether the bet republicans are making pays off. With this legislative win behind him, does this help President Trump focus more on infrastructure and healthcare, other economic reforms, or will 2018 be dominated with trying to defend the tax bill saying its not just for corporations that will benefit but Middle America as well. There will be a lot of defending the tax bill in 2018 for republicans. They will take this to the voters and say we did Something Big in washington which is one thing voters wanted to see they want to see actual legislation passed people at this point are not super psyched on this tax bill as we look at the polls, so republicans will say look at what corporations are doing already. Youre making more money maybe you got a big bonus. And people will see slightly less withheld from the government in february does it mean they can move on to infrastructure they would love to do that democrats ordinarily would buy in, but they have different views on how you do a Infrastructure Project probably not a big infrastructure bill in 2018. Were at the time of year when we talk about what will happen next year what is, in your mind, the democratic playbook for how you take whats happened over the past couple of weeks and then go towards those midterm elections . Well start that real ramp up towards campaigning Everything Else in the early part of next year what will they do what will the democrats do to capitalize on this moment . Theyll say what republicans did is cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy i think theyll paint donald trump, the president , as a big beneficiary of this. We have estate taxes, the alternative minimum tax, a lot of these benefits accrue to wealthier taxpayers. Broadly theyll say this is not great for you. Theyre trying to take your healthcare away on obamacare theyre cutting taxes for the rich, not the middle class theyll run hard against the tax plan before it shows real big longterm results, theyll have the ability to do that republicans wont be able to say were growing a lot faster, more jobs, more wages that takes more time within the time frame of the 2018 midterms, democrats can hammer away at this. The positive narrative surrounding tax reform, does that give republicans enough clout to move forward with the election of 2018 absolutely. It would have been a disaster for them had they not gotten this stuff they have a big thing to point to and to say we did a big fundamental tax reform that has eluded washington for decades. Theyll fight back against the democratic narrative that its a give away to the rich. They have something to present but they have to change Voter Attitudes towards this bill. They can communicate that, that there will be more money in your paycheck, better job and more pay longterm. Theres going to be a fight between the narratives for the tax reform bill. Republicans are starting from a good place they can say we did this big thing. This is why its good for you. The market sitting near record highs, thats something theyll always tout. I think you will see a lot of President Trump pointing to the stock Market Reaction and the rest of the administration markets go up and down if we get a selloff, they take the blame. The key is Earnings Growth, if we see that increase, with tax reform behind it theres good stuff to happen for republicans if it plays out the way they want it to. Ben white of politico, thanks for joining us. Theres a trio of economic reports, weekly jobless claims, the monthly Philadelphia Fed index and the final estimate on Third Quarter gross domestic product, thats all out at 8 30 a. M. Eastern time. As for the earnings side of things, you have carmax, pay checks before the opening bell, nike reports after the close we are following a developing story out of australia. More than a dozen people are being treated for injuries after a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in melbourne the driver of the vehicle is in Police Custody authorities believe this was a deliberate act well continue to keep an eye on this story and bring you more as we get it. Still ahead on Worldwide Exchange, a round up of the Global Markets plus a look at whats in store for currencies in the new year. Stick around orwi ehaeilwlddexcng wl be right back lets begin. Yes or no . Do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet . Do you want 4. 95 commissions for stocks, 0. 50 options contracts . 1. 50 futures contracts . What about a dedicated service team of trading specialists . Did you say yes . Good, then its time for power e trade. The platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. Looks like we have a couple seconds left. Lets do some card twirling twirling cards e trade. The original place to invest online. Welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. Im dominic chu along with seema mody lets check out the futures picture. Showing signs of stability after a twoday bull run for the stocks s p 500 up by 2 points dow jones up by 5 1 2. And the nasdaq off by 6 or serve 7 points a bit of calmness after optimism going into the markets the tenyear yield, around that psychologically important 2. 5 mark 2. 49 , the last trade there for the tenyear trade note. Yields have been rising a bit, allaying some fears of the flattening yield curve well see if that plays out more medium to longer term. As for everywhere else in the market, everyone is keeping a close eye to the dollar and Interest Rates a lot to digest in the last two weeks of 2017. Lets look at whats happening in asia. Markets there closing overnight mostly higher. Hang seng up by a half percent lets look at the nikkei, closing down the bank of japan finished up its twoday policy meeting where they kept rates unchanged. During the conference, the Japanese Deputy governor, kuroda, saying bitcoin is functioning not as a means of payment but as a target of speculation. Central bankers not just in the u. S. But around the world asked about this new emerging asset class. His country is responsible for a lot to of the trafficking of the cryptocurrencies. They recognize bitcoin as a means of payment one country out there receptive to this idea of not just bitcoin but cryptocurrencies in general. Lets look at europe early trade there. The big talker will be catalonia elections. Citizens going to the polls in a closely watched Regional Election this follows the controversial referendum the spanish Index Holding flat up 0. 7 . The italian ftse mib, up 0. 2 . In france, Business Sentiment came in below expectations macro big picture here on the commodity side of things looking at the energy markets. The last trade for wti crude, 58 per barrel thats off 0. 2 . As for the brent crude futures, theyre up almost 2 . 64. 42 Bigger PictureGlobal Factors playing into that. The pipeline in the north sea and tensions in the middle east. As for the gold price chart. We have been seeing a bit of action on the currency commodity side of thing, people have been talking about the crypto 1,269 the last trade. Just about flat so far on the day. The dollar, despite tax reform, has not been on the move to the upside. Dollar here in todays trade higher against the yen at 113 113. 43 the pound is higher against the green back the key Economic Data is the uk gdp print due tomorrow lets look at bitcoin and where it is trading. There has been a lot of talk about bitcoin getting diluted by other alternative tokens or coins, if you will, like bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin futures down 300 points here Bitcoin Futures on the cboe market down 90. Lets talk more about the currency market. Eric valoria from Wells Fargo Securities thanks for joining us. Lets talk about the dollar. We have stocks at highs on the back of tax reform and the economy improving. Why hasnt the dollar moved with it the dollar has been in a downwards trend since the end of last year. So december 2016 is when we believed there was a peak in the u. S. Dollars longterm cycle. The reason why the dollar has been weakening, its not been more a reflection of whats happening in the u. S. , its more of whats going on outside the u. S. Global growth picking up, other Central Banks starting to move towards normal or more normal Monetary Policy settings, that helped to boost foreign currencies as foreign currencies strengthen, that will weigh on the u. S. Dollar. Somebody tweeted in, its been eight years, the dollar has not done anything. Its where it was eight, nine years ago in terms of the actual value or purchasing power. Whether or not thats the case, it doesnt change the fact that the story is not as much about the dollar as it is about the international markets. Where are the hot spots . Why is it that we are seeing emerging markets or other developed economies showing maybe better signs of life with regard to their economy, thereby driving the value to the upside . For emerging markets, you have a benign Global Market backdrop global volatility is low, youre seeing more Global Growth. I would say if you look across the major currencies, the developed markets, we would say that the currencies of Central Banks who are more active, such as bank of canada, we saw a couple rate hikes last year or the European Central bank who has taken gradual steps to announce further reductions in quantitative easing should have seen and should continue to see currencies improve depending on the activity of those Central Banks and movement or evolution of Monetary Policy in a less accommodative direction, thats lifting those currencies we saw it with the u. S. Dollar when the fed was tapering throughout 2014 and then the rate hike in 2015. Does the global currency market have a lot to worry about with the rise of bitcoin and more people embracing this Virtual Currency i would say at this point no. Not much to worry about at this point. We tend to focus more on the traditional currencies and the economic factors and the Monetary Policy factors, those underlying trends tend to influence the traditional. Really quickly, whats your hottest trade in 2018 . In 2018, we see a mix of performance for the u. S. Dollar versus foreign currencies. In the earlier part of the year, the Canadian Dollar could be a stronger performing currency because the bank of canada is more likely to continue its tightening Program Towards the later part of the year, when you get to an end of the ecb quantitative easing problem, the euro could perform well eric, thank you great to have you on the show. Still ahead on Worldwide Exchange, stocks to watch including why shares of Bed Bath Beyond are deep in the red i know well have the time and as we head to break, heres the National Weather forecast from nbcs bill karins. Good