Investing.com – Wall Street opened low on Monday as investors grow uncertain about a U.S. tax reform bill.
The S&P 500 was flat as of 11:01 AM ET (4:01 PM GMT) while the Dow composite increased 2 points or 0.02%. Tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell one and a half points or 0.02%.
Markets are on edge after news that a corporate tax cut of 20% from 35%, which investors believe would spur the economy, could be delayed until 2019.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) was one of the biggest losers, losing 3.25% after it slashed its dividend in half. Tech stocks were also down, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) falling 0.25% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) decreasing 0.10%. Semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) slumped 1.55%.
Some of the largest gainers after the morning bell were telecommunications Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), which rose 1.18% after it rejected Broadcom’s takeover bid. Meanwhile luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) increased 1.29% and e-commerce giant Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) inched forward 0.67%. Toymaker Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) surged 19.22% after news that rival Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) made a bid to acquire the firm. Shares in Hasbro rose 6.47%.
Meanwhile markets in Europe were down. In Germany the DAX slumped 71 points or 0.54% while France’s CAC 40 was down 48 points or 0.90% and in London the FTSE 100 decreased 18 points or 0.23%. Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 52 points or 0.52%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx slipped down 24 points or 0.66%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.38% to $1,279.03 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.41% to $56.97 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.11% to 94.40.