Investing.com – US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as investors awaited an update on the progress of tax reform, while å slump in financials offset strong gains in tech pressuring the main indexes lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 24143.04. The S&P 500 closed 0.01% lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6776.38, up 0.21%.
US stocks continued to come under pressure as financials, mostly banks, underperformed the broader market amid a lack of details on the tax reform progress.
The Senate and House of Representatives are set to get talks underway this week to reconcile their respective bills. Investor expectations, however, remained bullish that a final bill will reach President Donald Trump for approval before year-end.
On the economic data front investors, cheered bullish private sector job creation data, stoking expectations for a solid non-farm payrolls report due Friday.
Private payrolls grew by 190,000 for the month, according to a report released Wednesday by ADP and Moody's Analytics. That beat economists’ forecast of 185,000.
On the corporate news front, shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) closed nearly 2% higher, lifting the broader tech sector, after Evercore ISI analysts issued an outperform rating on the social media company.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 1.5%, Visa Inc (NYSE:V) up 1.1% and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) up 1%
Merck (NYSE:MRK) down 2.5%, Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) down 1.6% and Nike (NYSE:NKE) down 1.2%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.