Investing.com – Wall Street opened lower on Tuesday as the U.S. tax reform bill looks more unlikely before the end of the year.
The S&P 500 slipped down 14 points as of 10:33 AM ET (3:33 PM GMT) while the Dow composite slumped 145 points or 0.62%. Tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell 37 points or 0.55%.
Markets are on edge after news that a corporate tax cut of 20% from 35%, which investors believe would spur the economy, could be delayed until 2019. The Senate is expected to work on the tax reform bill this week, with a final vote set for Thanksgiving next week. Analysts however have expressed doubt at the timeline.
Some of the biggest gainers were streaming device firm Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU), which surged 5.23% after it signed a contract to license its products in Philips-branded television sets. Social media site Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) rose 0.32% while retailer Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) increased 0.42% and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) gained 0.62%.
Meanwhile conglomerate General Electric (NYSE:GE) slumped 4.57%, after the firm announced on Monday it was slashing dividends in half. Home Depot (NYSE:HD) was down 0.54% after its earnings release came in lower than expected while Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) slipped 1.24% and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was down 1.11%.
In Europe markets were down. In Germany the DAX slumped 50 points or 0.30% while France’s CAC 40 was down 30 points or 0.56% and in London the FTSE 100 decreased 11 points or 0.15%. Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 66 points or 0.67%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx slipped down 27 points or 0.75%.
In commodities, gold futures were flat at $1,279.18 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 2.01% to $55.62 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.47% to 93.96.