Tax overhaul vote sends stocks higher

A modest move for the Standard & Poor’s 500 masked some dramatic changes roiling underneath the stock market’s surface.

Telecom stocks, banks and other areas of the market that stand to benefit the most from Washington’s drive to cut corporate tax rates jumped.

Technology stocks slumped and gave up a chunk of the gains that have made them the best-performing part of the market by far this year.

The New York Stock Exchange was nearly evenly split between stocks that rose and fell. The S&P 500 dipped 2.78 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,639.44.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58.46, or 0.2 percent, to 24,290.05, and the Nasdaq composite fell 72.22, or 1.1 percent, to 6,775.37.

The cross-currents swept through the market on the first day of trading after the Senate narrowly approved its proposal to revamp the tax system. Indexes initially jumped on expectations that lower tax rates would help corporate profits pile up even higher, and the S&P 500 was up as much as 0.9 percent in morning trading.

Lower tax rates would help boost profits for companies.

Technology companies, meanwhile, will likely get less of a boost.

“It’s not that the tax bill is negative for tech companies,” said Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust. “It’s just less positive for it than for other areas.”