After weathering its single largest one-day drop ever, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up more than 567 points on Tuesday, regaining some of the losses of the past few days and fueled in part by gains in the media sector.
The Dow closed at 24,912.77, up about 567.02 points in what was a wild trading day. The market opened down 530 points but swung from positive to negative territory and back again throughout the day. That comes a day after the market plunged 1,175 points Feb. 5, on fears that higher interest rates and inflation were coming.
Some saw the opportunity to buy stocks on the cheap, and several stocks began to climb back from the hole they dug a day before. The market still has a way to go to regain the losses of the past seven day – it lost 1,100 points last week. But Tuesday’s increase was good news.
For media stocks, which were hammered in Monday’s market debacle, signs of a turnaround were evident. Discovery Communications led the sector, rising 4.7% ($1.06 per share) top $23.84 each; followed by AMC Networks, up 4.4% ($2.15 each) to $51.06 per share. Of the 25 stocks in the sector, 16 ended the day in positive territory.
Distribution stocks were mixed, with Comcast up 1.2%, Charter Communications down 1% and Altice USA (-0.4%) and WideOpenWest (-1%) down slightly. AT&T rose 0.6% (20 cents each) to $36.83 per share and Verizon gained about the same, up 0.65% (33 cents) to $50.83 per share. On a less positive note, Dish Network fell 3.3% ($1.41) to $43.32 per share.
Tech stocks also showed gains, with Netflix up 4.5% ($11.46) to $265.72; Apple up 4.2% ($6.54) to $163.03; Amazon up 3.8% ($52.84) to $1,442.84; Google up 2.3% ($24.80) to $1,080.60; and Facebook up 2.2% ($4.05) to $185.31 per share.
