Stocks Opened Flat, Tax Bill, New Fed Chair in Focus

U.S. stocks opened flat on Thursday as investors braced for the unveiling of a long-awaited tax bill and President Donald Trump’s decision on the next Federal Reserve chair. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 0.35 points, to 23,434.82. The S&P 500 lost 1.02 points, or 0.04%, to 2,578.34. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.53 points, or 0.04%, to 6,714.01.

Oil prices slipped from two-year highs on Thursday but sentiment remained strong as supply cuts by OPEC and other major exporters tightened the market and drained inventories. Benchmark Brent crude was down 25 cents at $60.24 a barrel by 1215 GMT. U.S. light crude was 5 cents lower at $54.25 a barrel.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd hailed an “outstanding quarter” on Thursday as the Chinese firm beat forecasts with a 61 percent revenue rise driven by continuing e-commerce growth. The e-commerce giant reported revenue of 55.12 billion yuan ($8.34 billion) for July-September, above a 52.2 billion yuan forecast from analysts polled by Reuters.

Royal Dutch Shell reported a near 50 percent rise in quarterly profits, driven by strong refining, Third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders, based on current cost of supplies (CCS) and excluding exceptional items, was $4.1 billion,. That compared with $2.8 billion a year earlier and a company-provided analysts’ consensus of $3.62 billion.