White House brushes off Thursday stock market drop after reports of Biden push for capital gains tax hike

White House brushes off Thursday stock market drop after reports of Biden push for capital gains tax hike

Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, April 23, 2021.

President Joe Biden's reported plan to hike capital gains taxes on millionaires may have spooked Wall Street, but Thursday's sudden stock slide didn't seem to shake the White House.

Press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday brushed aside a question about whether the Biden administration was concerned by investors' apparent lack of support for the proposal to raises taxes on the rich.

"I've been doing this long enough not to comment on movements in the stock market," Psaki said during a press briefing.

"But I did see data, factually, that it went back up this morning," she added before moving on.

The plan, which seeks to increase the levy on capital gains to 39.6% from 20% for Americans earning more than $1 million, was reported by outlets including Bloomberg News and The New York Times.

U.S. stocks on Thursday reversed their gains and turned sharply lower following the reports. Stock indexes closed out Thursday's trading session about 1% lower.

But by Friday afternoon stocks appeared poised to recover their losses, as analysts predicted that any such