Stocks mostly flat on Trump tax plan

Stock indexes wobbled between modest gains and losses Wednesday, eventually ending nearly flat, as the White House unveiled broad outlines of its plan to slash tax rates but left many of the details to be determined.

Anticipation for a big tax cut has been one of the main drivers behind the stock market’s surge since November, when Republicans swept into Washington. The White House delivered a big number Wednesday, with officials saying they hope to cut the top corporate tax rate to 15% from 35%.

But many specifics have yet to be negotiated — such as how much it will affect the government’s budget deficit — and they will need to be hammered out with Congress. That left investors questioning exactly how much benefit will flow through to corporate profits, and how much further stock prices should climb.

“Tax reform will be good, but a lot of that has already been priced into the market,” said David MacEwen, co-chief investment officer for American Century Investments.

Tax policy isn’t the only thing pushing up stocks. Businesses are in the midst of reporting their profits for the first three months of the year, and they’ve largely been better than expected.

Edwards Lifesciences stock jumped 10.5% to $109.30, notching to the largest gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, after it reported quarterly revenue and profit that beat expectations. The company, based in Irvine, also raised its profit forecast for the year.

Wynn Resorts rose 5.9% to $125.19 after revenue and profit beat expectations.

On the losing end was U.S. Steel, which dived 26.8% to $22.78 after it posted a quarterly loss and cut its profit forecast for the year.

Seagate Technology, a maker of hard drives and other data storage products, sank 16.8% to $42.01 after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Meanwhile, Deckers Outdoor rose 3.1% to $60.55 after the Goleta maker of Ugg boots, Teva sandals and other footwear said it may put itself up for sale.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 6 cents to $49.62 a barrel. Brent crude fell 28 cents to $51.82 a barrel. Natural gas rose 10 cents to $3.14 per 1,000 cubic feet, wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $1.59 a gallon and heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.54 a gallon.

Gold fell $3 to $1,264.20 an ounce, silver fell 23 cents to $17.36 an ounce and copper rose 1 cent to $2.59 a pound.

The euro fell to $1.0899 from $1.0939, while the dollar rose to 111.38 yen from 111.09 yen. The British pound rose to $1.2843 from $1.2830.

U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.30% from 2.34%.