Tech stocks rebound as investors assess tax bill details

Wall Street rose and technology stocks recovered from a two-day selloff on Tuesday, with investors assessing a change to the Senate`s version of the tax overhaul bill that could affect the ability of companies to cut their tax bills.

The Republicans made last-minute changes to their tax bill, which included retaining the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) after initially proposing its repeal.

That puts Senate Republicans on a collision course with Republicans in the House of Representatives, whose own tax bill repeals the corporate AMT and who are already calling for the tax to be eliminated in the final legislation.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy had called for elimination of corporate AMT in a CNBC interview on Monday.

"The (recent) retreat in tech stocks has been attributed to AMT inclusion. It`s the speculation on the details of tax bill that`s being played out in the market," said Massud Ghaussy, director at Nasdaq Advisory Services.

"Expect the next two or three days for the market to behave irrationally. A lot of changes are being made to the tax bill and it obviously impacts various sectors in different ways."

At 11:18 a.m. ET (1618 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 25.56 points, or 0.11 percent, at 24,315.61, the S&P 500 was up 8.62 points, or 0.33 percent, at 2,648.06 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 58.79 points, or 0.87 percent, at 6,834.16. Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, led by losses in telecom services and utilities.

Technology stocks gained about 1.29 percent led by gains in Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.

Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox climbed to a life-high after a report that Walt Disney was in the lead to acquire much of Fox`s media empire, though rival suitor Comcast remained in contention.

Disney shares fell 2.2 percent, and Comcast also slipped 1.6 percent.

McDonald`s rose 1.75 percent, providing the biggest boost to the Dow, after Jefferies upgraded the stock with a "buy" rating.

Toll Brothers shares fell about 8 percent after the luxury homebuilder`s profit and revenue missed analysts` expectations as it sold homes at prices lower than its own estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,479 to 1,266. On the Nasdaq, 1,417 issues fell and 1,342 advanced.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)