US stocks deflate after big tax-reform reveal

Now what? The much-anticipated announcement on US President Donald Trump’s tax plan did not exactly propel the benchmark S&P 500 to the all-time closing high it was poised to break through earlier on Wednesday, though the tech-heavy Nasdaq did set a new intraday high while finishing millimeters off a record close.

At the end of a day that saw Mr Trump’s top economic advisors propose slashing the corporate tax rate to 15 per cent, US stocks were largely flat. The S&P 500 — which earlier on Wednesday surpassed its record closing high – never quite made it over the finish line, giving up its gains to close the day down 0.05 per cent at 2.387.45.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent to 20,975, while the Nasdaq was flat at the day’s end at 6,025.22, falling just a hair shy of the closing high notched yesterday and receding from the all-time intraday high of 6,040.89 it hit earlier today.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury hit 2.3 per cent, while the dollar index — which measures the buck against a basket of peers — ticked up 0.15 per cent to 98.93.