Dow Snaps 5-Day Win Streak



U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday as Wall Street awaited the final version of Congress' tax overhaul plan.

The Dow Jones industrials lost 76.77 points from Wednesday’s record close to 24,508.66. The index also snapped a five-day winning streak.

The S&P 500 skidded 10.84 points to 2,652.01, with health-care and materials as the worst-performing sectors.

The NASDAQ composite index deducted 19.27 points to 6,856.53

Wall Street has been eagerly awaiting the tax bill, which if passed would slash the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.

Disney said Thursday it will pay $52.4 billion in stock to buy Fox's movie studios, network Nat Geo, and Asian pay-TV operator Star TV, among other assets.

The acquisition bolsters Disney's plans to become a dominant streaming service platform, making it a bigger threat to Netflix.

Shares of Disney sprouted 2.8% higher, while Fox grew 6.5% by the closing bell.

The deal comes at a time when mega-deals have fallen significantly. PwC said in a report Thursday that mega-deals —those worth more than $5 billion — are down this year to 38 from 58 in 2016.

Elsewhere, Jabil Inc. announced earnings, and lost $1.08 in price on stock markets, or 3.8%, to $27.45.

On Thursday, Wall Street received a slew of economic data. Weekly jobless claims totaled 225,000, well below an estimate of 239,000.
Meanwhile, retail sales rose 0.8% in November versus an estimated increase of 0.3%.

Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained back lost ground, lowering yields back to Wednesday’s 2.35%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices gained 53 cents a barrel to $57.13 U.S.

Gold prices moved up $6.90 to $1,255.50 U.S. an ounce.