Media Stocks Slide As Investors Fear Turmoil From Trump Disclosures

Media stocks were caught in the undertow today as the stock market suffered from its biggest losses in eight months.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 closed down 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%. Investors are beginning to fear that GOP efforts to cut corporate taxes will be derailed as lawmakers deal with charges that President Trump tried to stop former FBI Director James Comey from investigating former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s Russia ties.

Today’s 1.5% fall in the S&P 500 Media Index, and 1.6% fall in the Dow Jones U.S. Media Index brought both back to about where they were in January.

Comcast, down 1.9%, lost the most ground among the biggest media companies. It was followed by Discovery (-1.8%), Fox (-1.8%), Disney (-1.6%), CBS (-1.3%), Time Warner (-1.1%), Viacom (-0.7%), and Sony (-0.3%).

Biggest losers in the rest of media included Twitter (-6.2%), MSG Networks (-5.9%), Pandora Media (-4.5%), Activision Blizzard (-4.5%), AMC Entertainment (-4.5%), Snap (-4.2%), and Time Inc (-4.0%).

The only gainers in the companies we track most closely were National CineMedia and Dish Network, both +0.8%.