 "Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters")
US stocks were little changed on Wednesday amid a flood of corporate earnings and ahead of a highly anticipated tax reform plan.
President Donald Trump is proposing to slash the corporate tax rate and offer multinational businesses a steep tax break on overseas profits brought into the United States, officials said late on Tuesday.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that the plan would cut the business tax rate to 15 per cent and that there was fundamental agreement with Congress on tax reform goals. The administration is expected to release details of the plan later on Wednesday, he said.
"We have a pretty good idea that he (Trump) is targeting lower corporate taxes, lower individual taxes and a simplification of the process, but all that is in an ideal world," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
"The market will not interpret the plan negatively, but there are obstacles in that course, just like with anything that Trump says and does."
At 9:39 am ET (1339 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17.39 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 21,013.51 and the S&P 500 was up 1.42 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 2,390.03.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 5.58 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 6,031.07 easing from an all-time high of 6,037.21.
Investors are also assessing a raft of quarterly earnings reports. Boeing's shares fell 1.5 per cent and weighed the most on the Dow after the planemaker reported a decline in revenue.
Among gainers, Edwards Lifesciences surged 14 per cent after it reported strong quarterly revenue and raised its full-year earnings forecast. The stock was the top percentage gainer on the S&P 500.
Twitter jumped more than 11 per cent after reporting a strong rise in monthly active users and a quarterly profit that blew past expectations.
Wall Street marked its best two-day gain on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq breaching 6,000 for the first time amid impressive earnings and easing political uncertainty in France.
"In this process of searching for new highs, I expect profit taking and pauses as investors question where the next push will come from" Bakhos said.
Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower. Losses in consumer staples and energy offset gains in healthcare.
Shares of Wynn Resorts rose four per cent to $122.94 after the casino operator reported better-than-expected revenue from its new casino in China's gambling territory.
US Steel tumbled more than 25 per cent after the company's profit and revenue missed analysts' expectations.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,367 to 1,166. On the Nasdaq, 1,131 issues rose and 1,121 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 40 52-week highs and two lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 69 highs and seven lows.
