US stock market opens mixed

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) - The U.S. stock market opened mixed Thursday ahead of the presentation of the much awaited tax reform bill.

The Dow increased 12 points to begin trading at 23,447 points.

The S&P 500 fell almost 1 point to open flat at 2,578 points, and the Nasdaq lost 12 points to start the day at 6,704 points.

Initial jobless claims fell to 229,000 last week, the Department of Labor announced earlier. The market expectations for the jobless claims were 235,000.

The markets and investors will watch closely the Republicans' announcement on new tax reform legislation, which aims to lower corporate tax rate in the country to 20 percent, from 35 percent.