The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 250 points Monday as investors continued to thump tech shares, while cable stocks enjoyed a strong showing after last week’s healthy earnings results.
The Dow finished at 24,442.92, down 245.39 points, swinging more than 900 points during the session, after a report that the U.S. was readying more tariffs for China. Tech share declines continued to weigh on the sector, with Netflix down 5% to $285.03, and Amazon down 6.4% to $1,538 per share.
On the cable side, Comcast was up 2.2% to $36.01 per share and Charter increased 2% to $300.71 each, just days after reporting strong third quarter results. Comcast reported its best third quarter high-speed internet subscriber additions in a decade in Q3, while Charter’s managed to beat analyst consensus estimates for most of its Q3 results. The Charter gain came after the stock was hammered on Friday — down 9% at one point (it finished down 6.3%) amid an overall market meltdown.
Tech stocks continued to take a beating — Netflix fell 5% to $285.03 and Amazon dipped 6.4% to $1,538 per share. It was another rocky day in what has been a hectic month for both stocks. Netflix stock is down nearly 25% since Oct. 1 when it was priced at $381.43 per share. But despite that decline, the stock is still up 50% since the beginning of the year.
Amazon has also taken a beating in the past month — it is down 23% since Oct. 1 — but is still up 32% for the full year.
Other FAANG stocks fared a little better — Apple closed at $212.24 each, down 2%, while Facebook finished the day down 2.3% to $141.98 per share. Google finished the day at $1,021.58, down 4.7%.
On the cable side, distributors were generally up for the day, with Liberty Global and Cable One rising 2.1% and 1%, respectively. Altice USA fell nearly 4% to $14.60 each.
Programmers were a mixed bag, as The Walt Disney Co. fell 0.2% to $112.99 per share, and Viacom was up 1.6% to $30.45 each. The rest of the sector showed slight gains — Discovery, AMC Networks, 21st Century Fox and CBS were all up about 1% each.
AT&T, which was battered after reporting less than stellar Q3 results Oct. 24, was up 2% to $29.64 on Monday. Dish Network, pressured by declining satellite TV subscriber rolls and a creeping softness in the virtual MVPD sector, finished the day down 1% to $28.02 per share.
