Major US stock markets closed below zero, as investors were waiting for news about the fate of the long-awaited tax bill

According to the latest information, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed a tax bill in the United States. For the adoption of the tax bill in the US Congress, 224 votes were given, against - 201 votes. The tax bill provides for tax cuts totaling $ 1.5 trillion in the next 10 years

Investors also analyzed data on the United States. The National Association of Realtors said that home sales in the secondary market rose for the third consecutive month in November and reached the highest rates in the last 11 years. In all major regions, except for the West, there was a significant increase in sales activity. Total secondary home sales, which are completed transactions, including single-family homes, urban homes, condominiums and cooperatives, jumped 5.6%, seasonally adjusted to 5.81 million in November from 5.50 million in October. After last month's growth, sales rose 3.8% compared to the same period last year, and they reached the highest levels since December 2006 (6.42 million).

Quotes of oil rose by about 1%, supported by the continued downtime of the Forties oil pipeline in the North Sea, as well as by statistics on oil reserves in the US. The Energy Ministry reported that oil reserves fell sharply last week, which was caused by an increase in the workload of oil refineries. In the week of December 9-15, oil reserves fell by 6.495 million barrels, to 436.491 million barrels. Analysts had expected a decline of 3.769 million barrels.

Most components of the DOW index finished trading in the red (19 out of 30). Outsider were shares of The Walt Disney Company (DIS, -1.65%). The leader of growth were the shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO, + 1.20%).

Most sectors of the S & P index recorded a decline. The largest drop was shown by the utilities sector (-0.4%). The conglomerate sector grew most (+ 1.2%).

At closing:

DJIA -0.11% 24,726.65 -28.10

Nasdaq -0.04% 6,960.96 -2.89

S & P -0.08% 2,679.25 -2.22