Media Stocks Poised To Drop As Markets Face Possibility Of A Trump Presidency
Media stocks could be in for a rough ride tomorrow as financial markets around the globe gyrate in response to Donald Trump’s startlingly strong showing in tonight’s early election returns.
Dow futures are down about 4% at 11 PM ET. The U.S. dollar is down 3.5% vs. the Japanese yen, and 1.8% vs the euro. And the Mexican peso is down about 11% vs. the U.S. dollar. The price of gold also is up.
Before tonight traders, following the polls, had counted on stability with a Hillary Clinton victory. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed on Tuesday up 3% from Friday due in part to the weekend announcement by FBI director James Comey that newly found emails did not persuade him to introduce criminal charges against Clinton’s use of a private server while Secretary of State.
Many feared that if Trump becomes president he might launch trade wars or significantly increase the U.S. deficit, possibly tipping the economy into a recession.
Typically those concerns cause advertisers to pull back on spending commitments. That could hit broadcast and cable network owners.
A Trump victory also would be ominous for AT&T and Time Warner. He has vowed to block the telco’s $85 billion deal to buy the entertainment conglomerate.
“While a Clinton administration would no doubt put the deal under intense scrutiny, we have no cause to believe it would actively thwart the merger,” RBC Capital Markets’ Steve Cahill and Leo Kulp say. “We expect [Time Warner] to outperform if Clinton is elected, and underperform if Trump is elected.”
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