The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 392.41 points on Thursday, the third day of triple-digit losses this week, as concerns about the Chinese economy continued to rattle the markets. Cable stocks, which had weathered prior market storms earlier in the week, finished the day with mixed results.
The Dow finished the day at 16,514.1, down 392.41 points after China’s central bank made its largest downward adjustment to that country’s currency – the yuan – since August. It was the third day of volatility in the Chinese stock market, first spurred by weaker than expected manufacturing data on Monday.
Thursday’s decline in the Dow was the third big drop this week – the DJIA dipped 276 points on Monday, rose 10 points on Tuesday and fell 252 points on Wednesday.
For cable stocks, it was a mixed day. Shopping network Evine Live, the former Shop NBC, fell to a new 52-week low of $1.50 per share, finishing the day down 8% (13 cents per share). Crown Media fell 3.5% (18 cents) to $4.91 each, Viacom dipped 3% ($1.17) to $38.89, 21st Century Fox declined 3.1% (83 cents) to $25.89 and Discovery Communications was down 3% (80 cents) to $25.48 per share.
But some stocks showed gains – Time Warner Inc. was up 2.3% ($1.58) to $70.20 –after CFO Howard Averill said the company would beat its earnings forecasts for the year, and Scripps Networks up a modest 0.5% (25 cents) to $52.15 per share.
