NEW YORK: Wall Street major indexes scaled new heights on Friday, with all key sectors pushing higher as the long-awaited bill to lower corporate tax rates enters the final stretch.

The final Republican tax bill is to be unveiled in Congress later in the day, with the decisive votes from both the House of Representatives and the Senate expected next week.

Republican negotiators worked furiously to put the finishing touches on the bill and expanded a child tax credit in an effort to win the support of two wavering senators.

“People still think the tax bill will get done. I don’t think Republicans are going to let this by the wayside as they’ve come this far,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.

The bill, which in its current form proposes to lower the rate to 21 per cent from 35pc, has been one of the catalysts for this year’s surge in the stock markets.

“Tax bill is moving the market in the short term, but the fundamentals that underlie that market, even without a tax reform, are giving investors confidence.”

At 12:17pm, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.6pc at 24,655.56. The S&P 500 was up 0.84pc at 2,674.4 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.99pc at 6,924.30.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are on track to close higher for the fourth week in a row, while the Nasdaq was set to post its first weekly rise in three weeks.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017