Wall St pares gains after Trump plan proposes 15% business tax rate

The tax brackets have been reduced from seven to three with top invidual tax rate at 35%

US stocks pared gains in midday trading on Wednesday after the Trump administration outlined its tax reform plan.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed slashing the U.S. tax rate on corporate and pass-through business profits to 15% from 35% or more.

The administration is determined to get the tax reform done by this year, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at press conference.

The promise of a massive tax cut has been at the core of the post-election rally, which has driven Wall Street's indexes to record highs. However, the rally has stalled of late due to a lack of clarity on Trump's policies and the failure of his healthcare reform bill.

At 13:48 p.m. ET (1748 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 38.02 points, or 0.18%, at 21,034.14, the S&P 500 was up 5.06 points, or 0.21%, at 2,393.67 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 6.52 points, or 0.11%, at 6,032.01.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher.

Among stocks, United Technologies rose 1.8% and provided the biggest boost to the Dow, after reporting a quarterly profit that beat expectations.

On the flip side, Boeing shares fell about 1% and weighed on the Dow after the planemaker reported a decline in revenue.

Procter & Gamble declined 2% after reporting lower quarterly profit.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,859 to 1,036, for a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the upside. On the Nasdaq, 1,790 issues rose and 1,005 fell for a 1.78-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 index showed 77 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 194 new highs and 19 new lows.