(New York, NY) — The markets are down Thursday after reports that President Biden wants to propose higher capital gains taxes for the rich. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 400 points at one time in the day. The report from Bloomberg says Biden may propose a hike as high as 43-point-four percent for the nation’s wealthiest. To close, the Dow Jones was down 321 points to 33-815. The S&P 500 lost 38 points to 41-34 and the Nasdaq fell 131 points to 13-818.
Despite the downturn in the markets today, companies continue to report strong numbers from the first quarter. Refinitiv reports 85-percent of companies listed on the S&P 500 index have beaten earnings expectations for the quarter. Government data also shows that unemployment continues to fall, as just under 550-thousand new jobless claims were filed last week. That’s the lowest number of new unemployment filings in a week since the pandemic struck.