Tax Cut Bill released, Consumer Sentiment unexpectedly declined

November 10, 2017

The U.S. Senate released its version of a tax cut bill yesterday with the focal point being mortgage interest deductions. The Senate bill will keep in place the current mortgage interest deduction cap of $1,000,000. The House would cap the deduction at $500,000. The corporate tax rate for the Senate bill would be slashed to 20% from the current 35%, but implementation would come in 2019, as opposed to 2018 for the House bill. The House and Senate seem to have a tough road ahead to come to some sort of compromise on the new tax bill.

Consumer Sentiment unexpectedly declined in early November after hitting the highest level in early October since 2004. The Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 97.8, below the 100.5 expected and down from 100.7 recorded in late October. The index measures 500 consumers’ attitudes on future economic prospects, in areas such as personal finances, inflation, unemployment, government policies and interest rates. Richard Curtin, chief economist for Surveys of Consumers, attributed that decline in consumer attitudes to “widespread losses across current and expected economic conditions.”

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