Overnight Finance: Dow closes above 21K | Trump seeks to delay investment adviser rule | Mnuchin promises tax reform by August

Dow passes 21,000 after Trump speech to Congress: The Dow Jones industrial average hit a new high Wednesday, eclipsing 21,000 points for the first time in history.

The Dow spiked more than 300 points (1.5 percent) by 1 p.m. ET, peaking at 21,141 points at 12:30 p.m. It closed at 21,116, also a record close.
The rally came one day after President Trump’s first address to Congress, in which he reiterated his campaign promises to cut corporate taxes and unwind Obama administration regulations. The speech, though, was short on key details.

Republicans and some political pundits praised Trump for communicating his long-held policy platform in an optimistic way, while Democrats said the president merely repackaged the same ideas they loathe in a gentler tone with no details. I’ve got more here: http://bit.ly/2lAjLhi.

Trump officials seek to delay Obama rule on investment advisers: The Trump administration is seeking to delay an Obama-era rule on investment advisers that is fiercely opposed by the financial industry.

The Labor Department on Wednesday proposed delaying the implementation of the so-called fiduciary rule, which broadly requires retirement advisers to act in the best interest of their clients.

{mosads}The regulation, supported by liberals on Capitol Hill such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), is aimed at preventing conflicts of interest where financial advisers push clients toward investment products that they receive commissions for.

But critics in the business world say the rule is overly broad and will have disastrous consequences, cutting off investment advice to people with lower incomes. The Hill’s Megan R. Wilson and Tim Devaney explain: http://bit.ly/2lAED8f.

Mnuchin promises tax reform by August: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday he remains committed to pushing through comprehensive tax reform this summer, a tall order as Congress faces a daunting legislative agenda.

A day after President Trump’s joint address to Congress, Mnuchin said again that he believes tax legislation will be signed by August even as Republican leaders on Capitol Hill line up a robust agenda that includes an overhaul of ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank financial reform law as well as a massive infrastructure plan.

“Our objective is to pass tax reform” and have it “signed” by the August recess, Mnuchin told Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto.  The Hill’s Vicki Needham reports: http://bit.ly/2lAjcUO.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to Overnight Finance. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

On tap tomorrow

• Financial Stability Oversight Council meets for the first time with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

Graham: 2020 candidates must release their tax returns: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said any candidate for the White House in 2020 must release his or her tax returns — including President Trump.

“Any candidate in 2020 should release their tax returns,” Graham, one of the president’s leading GOP critics, told reporters. 

Pressed if he thought Trump should release his financial documents, Graham added: “If he’s a candidate for president … I think if you’re a candidate for president in 2020, you should release your tax returns.”

Trump bucked decades of tradition during the campaign by refusing to release his tax returns, citing an ongoing audit by the IRS. The agency noted that he was free to release the information whenever he wanted: http://bit.ly/2lAmkjw.

GOP report: Feds use ‘too big to fail’ ‘arbitrarily and inconsistently’: House Financial Services Committee Republicans say the group of feds tasked with tracking financial risk labeled non-bank financial firms too big to fail “arbitrarily and inconsistently.”

Lawmakers claimed in a staff report released Tuesday that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) didn’t follow consistent standards when labeling four non-bank firms “systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs).”

That designation, nicknamed “too big to fail,” subjects major banks and financial firms to stricter federal oversight. Such banks and firms are considered likely to trigger widespread financial chaos if they were to collapse. I have more here: http://bit.ly/2lAvU5P.

Republican says Trump should release tax returns, but votes against measure forcing it: Rep. David Young (R-Iowa) called for President Trump to release his tax returns during a town hall with his constituents, but then voted against a Democratic-led resolution that would require the president to release his taxes to Congress.

The Associated Press was the first to report the shift.

“You run for president, you’re president, you should release your tax returns. It’s a distraction and I think the American people should know,” the congressman told a town hall last week, calling the decision a “no-brainer.”

Young then returned to Washington and joined the majority of Republicans who voted against the measure on Monday. The resolution would’ve asked Trump to release 10 years’ worth of tax returns for the House Ways and Means Committee to privately review. The Hill’s Olivia Beavers has more: http://bit.ly/2lAwReq.

Senate Dems to GOP chairman: You can get Trump’s tax returns: Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee urged the panel’s Republican chairman to request President Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department, but he rejected the request.

The Democratic senators asked Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Wednesday to seek the returns “given the critical issues raised by the President’s business entanglements.”

But Hatch and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) responded in their own letter, saying “we strongly consider the approach you suggest to be an abuse of the tax-writing committees statutory authority.”

“The American people have made it clear that they want Washington to fix our broken tax code — not to target the tax returns of individual citizens,” Hatch and Brady wrote.

The Senate Democrats’ request came after the House on Monday rejected an attempt from Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) to force a floor vote on a resolution to request Trump’s tax returns. The House Ways and Means Committee had previously voted against an amendment for the panel’s chairman to make such a request. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda explains the fight here: http://bit.ly/2lADddG.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-staging.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-staging.thehill.com, and njagoda@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill and @NJagoda.