The Dow Jones Industrial Average, battered by fears that stalled Congressional deficit talks could spur a downgrade of U.S. credit, fell 248 points Monday, but cable stocks managed to hold their ground, with some even showing gains in what proved to be volatile session.
The Dow finished at 11,547.31, down 248.85 points and its lowest level since Oct. 20.
MSO stocks managed to weather the storm, with Comcast posting a small gain on Monday, up 0.4% (9 cents) to $21.52 each. The rest of the sector reported small declines, with Charter Communications down 1.6% (84 cents) to $52.07; Cablevision Systems down 1.3% (19 cents) to $14..66l and Time Warner Cable down 1.1% (66 cents) to $59.77 each.
Dish Network was the biggest decliner on the satellite side, shedding 4.6% ($1.14 per share) to $23.59; while DirecTV fell 0.3% (12 cents) to $46.50 per share.
Programmers were mixed, with Walt Disney Co., down 3.7% ($1.30) to $34.33; Scripps Networks, down 2.2% (87 cents) to $38.95; Viacom, down 1.9% (99 cents) to $51.37, News Corp. down 1.3% (22 cents) to $16.60; Discovery Communications, down 1.3% (53 cents) to $40.09; Time Warner Inc., down 1.3% (43 cents) to $33.18; AMC Networks down 0.7% (25 cents) to $31.12 per share.
