U.S. stocks ended little-changed on Wednesday, losing altitude in the final minutes of trade, following a highly anticipated announcement of President Donald Trump’s ambitious tax proposal that had helped to fuel a breakout for equities in recent days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.1% lower at 20,975.09, the S&P 500 index finished off 1.16 point, or less than 0.1%, at 2,387.45, while the Nasdaq Composite Index , which touched a fresh intraday record of 6,040.89 before retreating, ended little-changed at 6,025–holding above its psychologically significant level of 6,000, hit Tuesday. In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn unfurled an outline of the eagerly awaited plan, but the lack of details appeared to disappoint investors. The yield on the 10-year Treasury yield [BX:TMUBMUSD10Y]slipped to 2.30%, highlighting a pick up in bidding for haven government bonds. Bond prices and yields move inversely. One bright spot, the Russell 2000 , a gauge of small-capitalization companies, and those mostly likely to benefit from tax cuts for small companies, ended at a record at 1,419.43, up 0.6%. Proposals to cut the tax rate to 15% from 35%, has boosted shares of small cap, which are up 2.9% for the week, compared with a 1.7% weekly rise for the S&P 500 and 2.1% for the Dow. In corporate action, Verizon Communications Inc. led gains for the Dow, while shares of Procter & Gamble Co. topped losses for blue-chips, down 2.5%. Twitter Inc. , also closed up nearly 8%, after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results.
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