TV, Cable Stocks Mostly Match Wall Street’s Big Drop
Market down Wednesday after slight rally Tuesday.
By Robert Marich -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/17/2008 1:23:00 PM
Wall Street endured another panic attack Wednesday as broad stock-market indices were down 4%-5% and TV and cable stocks fell in proportional lockstep.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 4.1%, or 449.36 points, to close at 10,609.66. That erased Tuesday’s 141.51 point gain and came after a global-rattling 504-point drop Monday.
In an indication that Wednesday’s broad-market fall was harder than the Dow, the S&P 500, which pools more stocks than the Dow, dropped 4.71%.
Falling less than the broad market, Disney dropped just 32 cents to close at $32.19 per share, or off just 1% Wednesday.
General Electric, which owns NBC Universal, was conspicuous among big-capitalization stocks with drops that exceeded the broad market. Shares of the industrial/media behemoth fell 6.7%, or $1.67 per share, to close at $23.39. Analysts said its giant financial-service unit is a concern to investors.
CBS was another big company experiencing a big fall, dropping 95 cents to close at $15.05 per share, down just shy of 6%.
In the broadcasting segment, Entravision Communications -- a winner in Tuesday’s small market rally -- fell 8.8%. Nexstar Broadcasting Group had another down date, off 5.1%. A rare gainer in the carnage has been Hearst-Argyle Television, which actually registered a 0.14% share-price gain Wednesday as it swims against the falling tide.
Subscription-TV-platform stocks Mediacom Communications, Time Warner Cable, Dish Network and DirecTV fell more than the broader market average. Cablevision Systems -- which also owns basic-cable networks and non-TV media interests -- declined just 1.6%, falling 41 cents to close at $25.88 per share, after a steep dive Monday.
The few cable-network-oriented stocks were mixed.
