Dow Falls 205 Points After Early Rally

The Dow Jones  Industrial Average, after an early rally that saw the index rise by as much as 441 points, fell again for the sixth straight trading day, closing Tuesday down nearly 205 points. But cable stocks, which had been hammered over the past several weeks, managed to hold their own, with some even showing small gains during the session.

The Dow closed at 15,666.44 on Tuesday, down 204.91 points. It was an improvement over the 588-point drop on Monday, but showed that the market hasn’t fully rebounded from fears over the global economy. The index last showed a gain on Aug, 17 when it closed at 17,545.18, up 67.78 points. Since then, the DJIA has fallen nearly 1,700 points.

Cable stocks managed to weather the storm well, with some even showing small gains. In the distribution sector, Time Warner Cable closed at $180.72 per share, up about 1% ($1.55 each) and Cable One closed at $413.23 each, up 1%, or $3.24 per share. Other stocks in the sector showed minimal declines – Charter fell 21 cents each to $171.29 (down 0.12%); Cablevision was down 7 cents to $22.59 (-0.3%) and Comcast dipped 56 cents to $53.85 per share, down 1%.

The programming sector, pounded over the past few weeks as investors fretted about cord-cutters, over-the-top providers and poor ratings cutting into profits, fared even better.  Several stocks showed gains, led by Netflix, which rose 4.8% ($4.64 each) to $101.52 per share. Oher programmers that showed increases were The Walt Disney Co., up 53 cents to $95.89 (+0.6%); Liberty Media, up 24 cents to $34.96 each (+0.7%); Viacom, up 43 cents to $38.58 each (1.1%); 21st Century Fox, up 7 cents (0.3%) to 26.73 per share; QVC Group, up 20 cents (0.8%)to $26.62 and Madison Square Garden Co., up $1.85 (2.7%) to $70.69 per share.

Even the stocks that declines kept their losses in check – Time Warner Inc. fell 12 cents (-0.2%) to $69.69 each; CBS dipped 68 cents (1.6%) to $43.27 per share; Scripps Networks fell 34 cents (-0.7%)to $51.38 and Discovery was down 23 cents (-0.9%) to $28.82 per share.