NEW YORK — Stocks were mixed Thursday as traders waited to see whether a tax compromise brokered by the White House and Republicans will pass the Democrat-controlled House.
House Democrats pledged Thursday to reject the tax deal as it is currently written. The compromise reached by President Barack Obama and Republican leaders would extend tax cuts at all income levels for two years. House Democrats want tax rates for the wealthiest Americans to revert to their previous levels.
“There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty about some major tax-planning and estate-planning issues,” said Eric Thorne, a vice president at Bryn Mawr Trust. “We think that the market will rally nicely once an agreement is passed one way or another.”
Goldman Sachs’ rough estimate is that the tax proposal could add between 0.5 and 1 percentage point to economic growth in 2011.
Stocks had edged higher in the morning after a report from the Labor Department showed that first- time claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week to 421,000, the second-lowest level this year.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 4.72, or 0.4 percent, to 1,233. It was the second straight day that the S&P reached a high for the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.42, or less than 0.1 percent, to 11,370.06. The Nasdaq composite rose 7.51, or 0.3 percent, to 2,616.67.
