While the 24-hour news cycle careened from one potential political crisis to the next, from North Korea, to the Affordable Care Act repeal, to Supreme Court changes, and finally to tax reform, volatility in the equity markets remained subdued, and the pace of the upward climb continued throughout 2017...

As 2017 closed, it has become clear that the "animal spirits" that guide the markets can shake off natural disasters, populist uprisings, a nuclear threat, and an ongoing stream of fodder for what once would have been Presidential scandals, but now pass for business as usual in the Trump Administration...