The market popped out the gate this morning only to stall, and now yield ground, after Speaker Ryan commented on Obamacare.  While the wish list includes repealing and reforming the so-called Affordable Health Care law, many investors are concerned it’s a more daunting task than Washington Republicans would like to admit.

I never believed it was necessary to have a laundry list of things done in the first 100 days, but the market has to know tax cuts are coming.  There is a difference between major tax reforms and lowering rates, the latter are critical to keeping animal spirits alive.  There is also confusion over a border tax, a border adjustment tax and other issues pertaining to balancing the budget that will see a jump in spending out of the gate.

I appreciate the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a new all-time high today driven by some of the oldest publicly traded stocks around:

• Boeing (BA) 101 years old
• International Business Machines (IBM) 105 years old
• Caterpillar (CAT) 92 years old

I think it’s important the Dow stay in the plus column, and even finds a way to trade even higher. 

I continue to caution that while Washington, D.C. is sucking all the oxygen out of the room.  I don’t think that most of the wish list, including a massive infrastructure plan, will happen.  But with the lulls and delays, risks increase to some Trump names that have gone up too far and too fast, like Vulcan Materials (VMC), which we closed out on this service and our trading service.

The VMC earnings miss is just a reminder that good stocks can get over their skies, but this is a name I want to be long once D.C. gets some of the bigger deals and promises in the pipeline.