WASHINGTON (REUTERS) -Stocks in the United States were little changed on Thursday amid a flood of quarterly earnings reports, while investors assessed President Donald Trump's tax reform plan.
The one-page plan, unveiled on Wednesday, proposed deep tax cuts for many businesses, but offered no detail on how it would be paid for without increasing the deficit.
US stocks snapped a two-day rally to end lower on Wednesday after the plan was unveiled. The prospects of hefty tax cuts have been a major driver of the post-election rally since November. "Yesterday, you saw some selling but it didn't develop into an outright heavy pressure day," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth.
At 9:38 a.m. ET (9:38 p.m Singapore time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 11.43 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 20,986.52, the S&P 500 was up 0.14 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 2,387.59 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 6.55 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 6,031.78.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, lead by a 0.35 per cent gain in the technology index.
Of the 181 S&P 500 companies that have released results so far, nearly 77 per cent have reported earnings above analysts'expectations. In a typical quarter, about 64 per cent of the companies top earnings estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.