While you were sleeping: Trump's tax plan lifts stocks

Thursday 28th September 2017

Wall Street and the US dollar climbed, while Treasuries dropped, after the Trump administration unveiled its tax reform plan.

The plan proposes a 20 percent corporate income tax rate, a new 25 percent tax rate for pass-through businesses including partnerships. and a reduced 35 percent top income tax rate for individual Americans, according to a framework seen by Reuters.

In 2.36pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 1.2 percent. In 2.21pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.5 percent.

The S&P 500 rose to a record 2,510.26.

“There’s the likelihood now that it may not be a tax reform but we’ll likely get a tax cut, and the market likes a tax cut probably better than tax reform,” John Stoltzfus, chief market strategist at Oppenheimer & Co in New York, told Bloomberg. “Everybody likes a quick fix, and the market has shown for years it accepts kicking the can down the road.”

The VIX, or the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index which measures expectations of future volatility in stocks, dropped 4.3 percent to 9.73.

While investors welcomed tax cuts and their potential to accelerate economic growth and bolster corporate profits, they also bring an increased likelihood the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates to keep a lid on inflation, analysts said. Indeed, on Tuesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen warned against the central bank moving “too gradually” on tightening monetary policy.

US Treasuries dropped, sending yields on the 10-year note seven basis points higher to 2.30 percent.

The Dow rose as gains in shares of Goldman Sachs and those of United Technologies, recently up 2.3 percent and 2 percent respectively, outweighed slides in shares of Nike and those of Procter & Gamble, recently down 3.2 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.

Nike shares dropped. At least nine brokerages downgraded their price targets on the stock after Nike warned revenue in North America, its biggest market, will decline further, according to Reuters.

“We expect challenges to remain in North America for at least several more quarters,” Moody’s analyst Mike Zuccaro told Reuters.

Shares of Metro climbed after the Canadian operator of more than 600 food stores as well as 250 drugstores and pharmacies said it is in advanced talks to buy pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group for C$4.5 billion (US$3.6 billion).

Vancouver-based Metro is offering C$24.50 per share in cash and stock for Varennes, Quebec-based Jean Coutu, the companies said in a joint statement. The Coutu family has indicated its intention to support the proposed transaction, they said.

Shares of Metro traded 4.9 percent higher as of 1.09pm in Toronto, while those of Jean Coutu also rallied 4.9 percent.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 0.4 percent advance from the previous close. France’s CAC 40 Index added 0.3 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index rose 0.4 percent, and the UK’s FTSE 100 Index also gained 0.4 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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