ould cut mortgage interest deductions in half. However, it would keep retirement savings plans like the popular 401(k) intact.

U.S. equities closed mostly higher on Thursday after a wild session as investors examined the details of the tax-reform plan proposed by Republicans. The plan would permanently lower the corporate tax rate to 20 percent. It would also keep retirement savings plans like the popular 401(k) intact. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 81.25 points higher at 23,516.26 — a record — after briefly falling 84 points. The index also hit a record intraday high. Shares of Boeing were the best-performers on the 30-stock index. "People are building their frameworks, but no one knows where this is going to go," said Jeremy Bryan, portfolio manager at Gradient Investments. The closed marginally higher at 2,579.85 — erasing earlier losses — as financials rose 0.9 percent. The index closed just above the flatline. Shares of Allstate were among the best-performing stocks in the financials sector, rising 3.8 percent. Shares of T. Rowe Price, meanwhile, jumped to finish 2.2 percent higher as asset managers reacted positively to the 401(k) news.

Major U.S. Indexes

"What the market is celebrating is that the process moves forward but the process faces many hurdles," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. "But I think the market slowly comes to the realization that it's 2018's business." Yet, the plan would also cut mortgage interest deductions in half and then hit homebuilder and consumer-related shares. Also, it lowers the tax rate on repatriated cash to 12 percent. Homebuilder stocks took a hit, with the SPDR S&P Homebuilders exchange-traded fund (XHB) sliding 2.5 percent. Shares of Toll Brothers fell 6.1 percent, while M.D.C. Holdings pulled back 12 percent. The Nasdaq composite closed just below breakeven at 6,714.94; it fell earlier as tech investors were left disappointed with the 12 percent rate on repatriated cash. A lot of big tech companies have scores of cash outside of the U.S. "The market sees this as a disadvantage to consumption in favor of more long-term investments," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank. "Consumption is a short-term endeavor while investment is more long-term."

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