Bitcoin preserves gains near $6000 on yesterday

             Following last week's record-setting rally, the BTC/USD pair made a technical correction during the first half of the week before gaining traction on Thursday and surging to a new all-time high on Friday. At the moment, the pair is trading slightly below its record high of $6030 at $6000, up $300, or 5.3% on the day.

            Yesterday's surge seems to be fueled by an increasing trading volume in cryptocurrencies. "In the last 24 hours and really the last few hours there has been a massive inflow of capital into bitcoin, significantly outweighing the amount of new money flowing into other cryptocurrencies," Alex Sunnarborg, founding partner of cryptocurrency fund Tetras Capital, told CNBC.

             Analyzing Yesterday's price action, coindesk.com in a recent article pointed out that the data from Google Trends revealed that bitcoin search volume advanced to near all-time highs.
Since the start of the month, the pair gained nearly 40%, lifting the total yearly earnings above 500%.

Heightened expectations of tax overhaul

               Following a positive start to the day, major equity indexes in the U.S. extended their upside as investors cheered the US Senate's approval of the 2018 fiscal year budget plan, which would open the door for the Republicans to go through with their tax reform without the support of the Democrats.

               “It clearly is a positive and has added to the sentiment. Any legislative action that promotes economic growth, clearly will be additive to not only sentiment but presumably earnings,” Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, told Reuters.         
               Boosted by a 3% gain witnessed in the US 10-year T-bond yields,  the S&P 500 Financials Sector (SPSY) added more than 1% to become the best performing sector of the day.
In the meantime, after dropping to a weekly low at $50.70, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate staged a late recovery and turned positive on the week, allowing the S&P 500 Energy Sector (SPNY) to erase yesterday's losses.

                Next week, 183 S&P 500 companies will be releasing their third-quarter earnings results. According to the latest data available on Reuters, more than 70% of the 88 S&P 500 companies, which have already released their reports, have surpassed profit expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 162.86 points, or 0.7%, to 23,325.91, the S&P 500 added 12.87 points, or 0.5%, to 2,574.97 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 23 points, or 0.35%, to 6,628.06.

Removal of monetary policy : Fed's Yellen

            Speaking at the Herbert Stein Memorial Lecture in Washington DC, Federal Reserve's chairwoman Janet Yellen stated that economy doing well but future downturns likely to require renewed use of unconventional policy
             In a speech titled "Monetary Policy Since the Financial Crisis", Yellen stressed that downward pressure on yield from Fed asset holdings will dissipate only gradually

• Fed more likely to hit "zero lower bound" in future rate cut cycles
• Unconventional policy tools must be "Ready" if needed
• Evidence suggests economy did better because of asset purchases, other Fed actions during crisis
• Removal of monetary policy accommodation working well so far

Trump on next Fed chair

            In an interview with Fox Business, US President Donald Trump said that he was considering having both the Fed governor Powell and Stanford University economist Taylor to fill spots at the Fed.

• Idea of Taylor, Powell serving together at Fed is in his "thinking," adds "I have a couple of others things in my thinking"
• Taylor, Powell both very talented, says it is a hard decision
• Fox Business says Powell and Taylor could potentially serve as either fed chair or vice chair, unclear which role either might get