U.S. stocks extended gains Thursday as investors assessed the country's newly-released framework on tax reform.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40.49 points, or 0.18 percent, to 22,381.20. The S&P 500 added 3.02 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,510.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.19 point, or less than 0.01 percent, to 6,453.45.
The Trump administration and U.S. Congress Republicans on Wednesday released a unified framework for tax code reform, which will cut tax rates for businesses and individuals while lacks details on how to consolidate fiscal position in face of big tax cuts.
Analysts said the excitement that lifted equities on Wednesday was replaced by questions on how the plan will be put in place.
On the economic front, U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the second quarter of 2017, on par with market consensus, according to the third estimate released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.
In a separate report, the department reported that the U.S. international trade deficit came in at 62.9 billion U.S. dollars in August, lower than the July reading of 63.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Meanwhile, in the week ending Sept. 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 272,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.
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