As market strategists and pundits attempt to predict the end of this economic cycle, a commonly mentioned indicator is the term spread of U.S. Treasuries – or the difference between short-term yields and long-term yields.

Now that Congress has passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, what’s next on the legislative agenda? Washington policy expert Doug Fisher weighs in on what we can expect depending on the results of upcoming mid-term elections.

As the second longest economic expansion on record in the United States entered another year, questions around potential catalysts for greater gains arose. With economic data still solid, and the effects of the corporate tax cut not yet fully felt, the case for equities remains intact.

A strong U.S. economy, continued global growth improvement, a concerted effort by global central banks to remain accommodative as long as possible, and a general sense of complacency about valuations in the equity markets provided the backdrop for 2017’s wins.

As January began, it was clear that 2017 was going to be a tough act to follow for investors. It was a year marked by historically low volatility, essentially unchanged Treasury yields, and a straight up trajectory for equity markets, and as such, it seemed unlikely for this Goldilocks scenario to repeat itself again in 2018.

If there is one thing that all investors can agree on from the first quarter of 2018, it is that volatility in the markets is most certainly back. But what does that mean, and why is it such a critical data point for market participants?

In what seems to typify modern markets, price and yield moves that used to take several months, now happen in a matter of weeks or merely days. The start of 2018 has been characterized by volatility and another leg higher in yields.