Midday Update: Stocks Sharply Lower as Investors Weigh Tax Plan Impacts

Stocks were lower in midday trading Thursday.

Author:: Kinsey Grant
Publish date:: Nov 9, 2017 11:59 AM EST

Stocks snapped sharply lower in early trading Thursday as investors braced for the impact of the Senate GOP's tax cut plans. By midday, losses had scaled back some but stocks remained solidly in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.4%. The S&P 500 Index was lower 0.4%. The Nasdaq fell 0.6%.

Senate Republicans will unveil their tax reform legislation plans Thursday. The proposal is expected to offer billions in tax cuts for people and corporations, repeal the federal deduction for state and local taxes and pare down the personal income tax brackets to four from seven. The Senate is preparing to debate its tax plan next week. The House could pass their own version around the same time.

President Donald Trump finished off a trip to China Thursday, bringing home a number of new commercial contracts. Around $250 billion in new and existing deals between U.S. and Chinese firms were agreed upon during Trump's China leg of his 11-day Asia tour. Boeing (BA) - Get Report , General Electric (GE) - Get Report , Qualcomm (QCOM) - Get Report , Goldman Sachs (GS) - Get Report and Ford (F) - Get Report all got in on the action with deals and contracts linked to Trump's visit.

Roku (ROKU) - Get Report came out swinging in its first quarterly report since going public in September. The home-streaming service offered up a 40% increase in revenue to $124.8 million. That figure topped analyst expectations by $110 million. Roku posted a loss of ten cents per share, which was far narrower than expected by Wall Street. CEO Anthony Wood called Roku's first major report a milestone for the company.

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