The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped more than 384 points after opening on Sept. 1 on disappointing economic data from China, but cable stocks managed to keep their losses at a minimum early in the session.
Weak manufacturing data from the world’s second largest economy sent stocks southward early Tuesday, but cable stocks battered over the past several weeks on cord cutting and advertising concerns managed to keep their losses in the 1 to 2% range.
Cablevision Systems had the biggest early dip, shedding 65 cents per share (2.6%) to $24.52 per share. Other distribution stocks kept their declines to 1% or under – Comcast (-1%), Charter Communications (-1%), Time Warner Cable (-0.5%) and Cable One (-0.06%).
On the programming side, the declines ranged from a 1.9% dip at Scripps Networks to $52.10 per share to a 0.83% decline at Viacom. Disney was down 1.25% to $100.60. 21st Century Fox declined 1.8% to $26.89 and Discovery Communications declined 1.5% to $26.19 per share in early trading.
