1/ Humbling: Paul Ryan looked humbled but the sheer breadth of the rejection from House Republicans and it seems that even if you are the king of deal making, if you inherit and bring forward a bill to the table that is not workable it just won't pass. A bill that seemingly so few liked is never a good starting point, with the discussions moving progressively move to the right of the House, in turn losing even the more moderate conservatives. It makes Trump's job very difficult and even shows an immaturity at a political level.

As one would expect there are a few headlines this morning quoting a number of outspoken individuals calling for the House speaker Paul Ryan to step down. I am sure former Speaker John Boehner would be relishing the far quieter life he currently lives.

2/ Tax ticket: One then hears that Republican Chief Strategist Steve Bannon walked into the Freedom Caucus meeting and gave them little choice but to vote for the bill and you are left with a party that is absolutely fractured and unlikely to show the sort of unity needed to pass tax reform.

So tax reform is now the big ticket item, and as we have heard, perhaps optimistically, from both Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin the wheels are in motion to focus on the budget, debt ceiling and redesigning the tax code.

3/ Waiting game: Not much is going to happen though in the short-term with spring congressional recess starting at the end of next week, but this leads to two key questions market participants are asking. Firstly, will we get a second vote on health care reform in Trump's first term in office? Keep in mind that Paul Ryan had seven years to craft this one and tactically they had to pull the vote from even happening. Secondly, while we have seen a defiant and united front from the Trump administration top brass on passing tax reform, has this clear rejection of such an unpopular bill signalled a very high hurdle for passing future tax measures?

4/ Priced in? Judging by the slight bid in risk assets when we saw the news that the administration was switching focus to tax reform, with the Dow and USD/JPY gaining 120 and 70 points respectively, we can deduce that the rejection of the healthcare bill was largely in the price.

5/ Shifting target: However, there are presumably some who likely believe Trump can succeed. The USD is now missing a key catalyst though as some $350 billion in potential savings over the decade are now effectively lost, so can we now believe that the prospect of corporate tax of 15-20 per cent is not achievable and we should actually talk about 28-30 per cent? This seems to be the case and essentially this issue could weigh on the S&P 500 as well, with the analysts' consensus Earnings-Per-Share (EPS) of 129c largely incorporating much deeper tax cuts.

6/ Asia looms: The open on Asian markets will be interesting, with the FX open focusing on moves in USD/JPY, while the futures open (at 09:00 AEDT) should focus on S&P 500 and US crude. SPI futures closed up one point and if we adjust this for our fair value weighting we see the ASX 200 opening at 5762 +9 points. I wouldn't be surprised to see traders selling into this opening print though and building on last week's 0.8 per cent loss for the index. This is especially poignant given spot iron ore closed down 1.5 per cent, with Dalian iron ore and steel futures closing down 2.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively. BHP's American Depository Receipt (ADR) closed down 1.3 per cent.

7/ Good oil: Healthcare and Aussie energy are in focus, although the US healthcare sectors finished flat on the session and the real upside was seen is US hospitals and Medicaid managed-care organisations. The weekend 'technical committee' in Kuwait may cause some support to the oil price, given five Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Oman are now publically backing an extension of the 30 November output cuts and this should please the market and I am sure the US shale gas players, who coincidently increased the rig count by a further 21 rigs.

8/ Market Watch

SPI futures up 1 point to 5748

AUD -0.1 per cent to 76.23 US cents

On Wall St, Dow -0.3 per cent, S&P 500 -0.1 per cent, Nasdaq +0.2 per cent

In New York, BHP -0.8 per cent, Rio -1.2 per cent

In Europe, Stoxx 50 -0.2 per cent, FTSE -0.1 per cent, CAC -0.2 per cent, DAX +0.2 per cent

Spot gold -0.1 per cent to $US1243.57 an ounce

Brent crude +0.9 per cent to $US51.00 a barrel

Iron ore (Metal Bulletin) -1.5 per cent to $US85.06 a tonne

Dalian iron ore -2.2 per cent to 567 yuan a tonne

LME aluminium +0.3 per cent to $US1939 a tonne

LME copper -0.4 per cent to $US5804 a tonne

10-year bond yield: US 2.41 per cent, Germany 0.40 per cent, Australia 2.75 per cent

???This column was produced in commercial partnership between Fairfax Media and IG