Investors have cast their votes driving up U.S. stocks more than 20% in 2017. A version of this article appears in the Dec. 1, 2017 issue of Fortune as part of the Fortune 2018 Crystal Ball package. Unfortunately, just when you need it most it starts to malfunction failing to alert you when the Wicked Witch of the East zooms in for the kill. The U.S. IPO market jumps to life again 
 
 Last year was particularly weak for domestic IPO proceeds, at just $16.2 billion. Tax Reform Passes…but GDP Can’t Reach 3% 
 
 President Trump and the GOP-led Congress are able to enact some corporate tax reforms, but learn that tax cuts alone can’t quickly compensate for an aging population and an under-skilled middle class.
– It's that time of year when financial experts are asked to dust off their crystal balls and tea leaves and offer up their predictions for the economy in 2018. At Yahoo Finance, David Nelson warns that the problem with these predictions is that experts tend to extrapolate, i.e., believing a healthy market will continue to be healthy, and vice versa. That said, he admits he falls "into that same camp as many extrapolating 2017 a very good year into the next. ... Strength in overseas markets means our customers are doing well and that's great news for US multinationals." We round up five predictions from Fortune and WalletHub, which notes its last six years of predictions have been relatively prescient, with an average GPA of 3.56.