Dow Hits New Bear Market Low
Cable Holds Its Own
Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 2/19/2009 4:55:53 PM
The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a new benchmark on Thursday, finishing the day at 7,465.95, down 89.68 points, its lowest close since October 2002, the nadir of the last bear market. Cable stocks, battered for most of the year, held up surprisingly well.
Once again, a big decline in banking stocks drove the Dow downward -- Bank of America and Citigroup were each down 14% on Thursday.
Cable operators fared pretty well despite the decline, with four of the five publicly traded MSOs showing gains for the day. Comcast led the pack, up 63 cents each (5.1%) to $12.99 per share, followed by Mediacom Communications, up 13 cents (3.4%); Time Warner Cable, up 7 cents (0.4%) to $17.59; and Cablevision Systems, up 3 cents (0.24%) to $12.25 per share. Only Charter Communications, which said last week it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by April 1, reported a decline, down less than one cent (8.8%) to 3 cents per share.
It was more of a mixed bag for programming stocks. Among the decliners were News Corp., down 10 cents each (1.5%) to $6.68 per share; Viacom, down 18 cents (1.1%) to $16.35; Crown Media Holdings, down 5 cents (2.8%) to $1.72; and Scripps Interactive Networks, down 60 cents (2.9%) to $20.48 per share.
Walt Disney Co. stock was up slightly (6 cents, or 0.34%) to $17.69 each as was Outdoor Channel Holdings, up 4 cents (1%) to $3.99 per share.
Cable Follows Dow's Big Gain
03/09/2009Dow Surges 257 Points
07/15/2009Dow Surges 500 Points
03/23/2009Dow Stays Flat; Cable Rises
11/03/2008
