Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday, reversing gains from earlier in the session, as investors mulled over President Donald Trump's tax reform plan amid a raft of first quarter corporate earnings reports.
The three main U.S. indexes were on track to end the session in positive territory, as both the Dow and S&P 500 traded close to all-time highs but gains were short-lived, after top White House officials unveiled President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said Wednesday, that President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan would slash the U.S. corporation tax to 15% while introducing a tax repatriation holiday for businesses that have sizeable investments overseas.
Investors were disappointed by the lack of details concerning the tax reform package, as both Mnuchin and Cohen appeared reluctant to elaborate on how the Trump administration proposed to pay for the reforms outlined in the tax plan without increasing the budget.
Meanwhile, in corporate earnings news, Twitter and PayPal reported first quarter earnings that beat estimates on both the top and bottom line.
Twitter posted earnings-per-share of 11 cents and revenue of $548 million compared to expectations of EPS of 1 cent and $511.9 million of revenue.
PayPal reported EPS of 44 cents and revenue of 2.98 billion, beating expectations of EPS of 41 cents and revenue of 2.94 billion.
Investors look ahead to a packed corporate earnings calendar in Thursday’s session, as Under Armour, Ford Motor, Alphabet, Expedia, Intel, Amazon, Baidu, GoPro, Starbucks, and Microsoft are a few of the notable names scheduled to release first quarter earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.10% lower at 20975.09. The S&P 500 lost 0.05% and the Nasdaq Composite closed flat at 6025.23.
The ‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers included; Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) up 10.5%, and Wyndham Worldwide Corp (NYSE:WYN) up 9%, while Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) added 7.7%.
Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) down 16.8%, CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:CHRW) down 6.3% and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (NYSE:DPS) down 5.5%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.