To a great degree, changes in interest rates and changes in currency substitute for each other in an overall macroeconomic sense. A rise in the world value of the US$ is equivalent to an increase in interest rates, in that both act to slow down overall US growth. A decline in rates or in the dollar acts as stimulus.
What is 2017 likely to bring?
interest rates
Ignoring the mid-year lows, one-month T-bills began 2016 at a 0.17% yield and are now at 0.39%. The 10-year bond opened the year yielding 2.24% and is closing at 2.46%. Over the same period, the Federal Reserve has raised the overnight money rate by 0.25%.
My guess is that the Fed will raise the overnight lending rate by at least 0.50% and possibly by 0.75% in 2017. The latter would likely translate into a rise in the 10-year to something just below 3%, the former to a yield of 2.75% or so.
currency
I think the chances of the larger rate rise are greater if the dollar remains around today’s level. As I’ve written recently, I think the US stock market is already trading as if long-dated Treasury bonds were yielding 4%–where I think the endpoint of restoring rates to normal will be. That’s something that probably won’t occur until 2018.
In addition, the US stock market has typically gone sideways during past times of Fed tightening. What would be unusual this time around would be if Congress follows through on a large, growth-stimulating, public works spending program. This would, I think, minimize any negative effect rising rates would have on stocks.
effects on the S&P 500
If the past is prologue, the main effect of rising rates and rising currency will be on the relative performance of sectors.
The more interest rates rise, the more attractive bonds will become vs.stocks whose main appeal is their stream of dividend income. So income stocks would be negatively affected.
The more the US$ rises, the weaker the US$ growth of foreign operations of US multinationals will be. Import-competing businesses would be hurt as well. Purely domestic firms would be relatively unaffected. My guess, however, is that the bulk of the dollar rise on a more functional national government has already occurred.