Continued fears about global debt markets sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a tailspin Thursday, dragging virtually every business sector -- including media -- down for the ride.
The Dow closed at 10,733.83 Thursday, down 391.01 points, as investors fled from what they perceived to be risky investments to currencies and bonds, according to the Wall Street Journal. The resulting sell-off left no sector unscathed.
Except for Time Warner Cable -- which rose slightly (0.1% or 7 cents per share) -- cable operators took a beating Thursday, led by Comcast, down 3.8% (84 cents) to $21.02 and followed by Charter Communications, down 3.7% ($1.80) to $46.36 and Cablevision Systems, down 3.4% (58 cents) to $16.26.
Satellite-TV service providers also saw losses for the day, with Dish Network declining 3.3% (87 cents) to $25.40 and DirecTV shedding 1.4% (59 cents) to $41.02
Programming stocks also took a hit, led by Viacom, down 6.5% ($3.52) to $50.81, after CEO Philippe Dauman warned that the media giant would fall short of double digit ad growth targets in the third quarter.
The rest of the sector took a pounding, with Disney falling 5.4% ($1.70) to $29.58; News Corp. down 3% (47 cents) to $15.75; Discovery Communications down 3% ($1.19) to $38.74; AMC Networks down 4.1% ($1.47) to $34.01; Scripps Networks down 4% ($1.67) to $40.31; and Time Warner down 3.5% ($1.06) to $28.93.
