Showbiz Stocks Surge From Theater Chains To Broadcasters On Glimmer Of Market Hope Pandemic Is Running Its Course

Stocks rallied sharply Monday with many media shares outpacing the broader market as Wall Street – at least for today – evinced a glimmer of hope at the U.S. trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic, even as Wall Street analysts have only begun to calculate the dire impact of the virus on corporate finances for the current quarter.

That said, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 1,000 points, or 4.8%, in late morning trade with showbiz shares even more buoyant than other sectors. Among beleagued theater stocks AMC Entertainment was up nearly 18%. Marcus, Cinemark and National Cinemedia were higher by, respectively, 8%, 7% and 5.3%. Leveraged AMC is running out of cash fast and it’s hoping for government help and that cinemas will be opening in June.

Among broadcasters, Sinclair is up a hefty 15% and Nexstar up 10%.

Live Nation, whose concerts have been canceled around the world, saw shares nose up by nearly 5%.

Also upbeat, Lionsgate gained 6%, Disney 3%, Comcast nearly 5% and Nextflix 2.3%.

Spotify stock was the only red – or down – stock in a list of 40 media stocks Deadline follows. That’s after an analyst from Raymond James earlier Monday cut its recomendation from ‘strong buy’ to ‘market perform’, citing less engagement and fewer downloads and growing competition from Amazon music in the U.S. to to higher smart speaker use.

The sense over the weekend was that coronavirus cases around the world were growing more slowly. The U.S. epicenter, New York, reported 594 news cases Sunday, down from 630 on Saturday. Italy, France and Spain also reported a slower rise in death tolls.

Still, pundits urged caution. Markets have been immensely volatile for weeks. With health systems strained, economic activity at a trickle and unemploymen surging, there’s still little visibiity in how long the situation will drag out and if the goverment’s $2 trillion package will be enough see companies and individuals through the worse.

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