A Bloody End To February On Wall Street

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There’s no mincing words with what happened Wednesday on Wall Street: Media stocks, and the overall market, got creamed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 380.83 points to 25,029.20, losing 1.5% of its value. Nasdaq was off 57.35 points, finishing at 7,273.01.


For many media industry stocks, including Sinclair Broadcast Group, the losses were substantial compared to a normal trading day.

With Sinclair reporting Q4 results hampered by a dip in political dollars, and talk still surrounded its plans to merge with Tribune Media, SBGI shares finished the day with a 6.25% decline, to $33.80.

For rival TEGNA, shares were down 4.9%, to $12.86.

Perhaps investors were not pleased with TV’s tough political comps. That’s what harmed The E.W. Scripps Co. in its Q4, the company revealed this morning. The result on Wall Street: A 8.6% decline of SSP shares, to $13.77.

Some radio companies were not immune to the dips. Salem Media Group, which saw its  Board of Directors declare a cash distribution for Q1 of $0.0650 per share paid March 28 to all Class A and Class B common stockholders of record as of March 14, suffered a 4.6% drop to $4.15.

The loss negates nearly two years of growth for Salem shares.

Also taking a hit: Entercom, which got slugged with a 5.5% decrease in value, to $9.90.

Meanwhile, the troubles on Wall Street continue for AI company Veritone Inc. With a 2.2% drop on Wednesday, shares now sit at $13.95; they raced to $56.28 in mid-September following a 30-day ascension from $7.87.