Major Averages Close Slightly Lower After Late-Day Pullback - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks finished Wednesday's trading modestly lower after seeing strength for much of the trading session. The major averages pulled back going into the close, ending the session just below the unchanged line.

The Dow dipped 21.03 points or 0.1 percent to 20,975.09, the Nasdaq edged down 0.27 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,025.23 and the S&P 500 slipped 1.16 points or 0.1 percent to 2,387.45.

The lower close on Wall Street came after officials from President Donald Trump's administration unveiled the president's highly anticipated tax reform plan.

White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin outlined Trump's plan in a briefing to reporters at the White House.

Trump's tax reform plan would reduce the number of income tax brackets from seven to three, with a top rate of 35 percent and lower rates of 25 percent and 10 percent.

The president's proposal would also lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current 35 percent.

Trump's plan would also eliminate the alternative minimum tax as well as the estate tax, which is also known as the "death tax."

Among individual stocks, shares of Twitter (TWTR) moved sharply higher after the social media giant reported better than expected first quarter results.

Restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) also saw notable strength after reporting first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Boeing (BA) also reported first quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates, although the aerospace giant reported revenues that came in below expectations.

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (PG) also reported better than expected third quarter earnings on weaker than expected revenues.

Shares of U.S. Steel (X) came under pressure after the steel giant reported a wider than expected first quarter loss on weaker than expected revenues.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region extended a recent upward move during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.5 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both edged up by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries ended the session modestly higher after trending lower in recent sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slipped by 1.6 basis points to 2.311 percent.