A choppy session for US equity markets as President Trump released the Republican tax plan and named the Chair of the Federal Reserve - Dow up +81-points or +0.35%, paring earlier session losses that saw the index down as much as -84-points and set fresh record intra-day and closing highs. The broader S&P500 inched +0.02% higher, with the Financials sector (up +0.9%) helping the index erase earlier falls. The NASDAQ slipped -0.02%, with Facebook down -2.05% despite posting better-than-expected third quarter numbers (earnings per share US$1.59 versus consensus expectations US$1.28). The social media giant flagged that expenses would rise 45%-to-60% in 2018, or faster than expected sales. On the Republicans' tax reform bill, corporate tax has been cut to 20% and seven personal tax brackets have been collapsed into four. Investors now look ahead to tonight's key non-farm payrolls report, with consensus expectations for a print above >300K.
