Cord-cutting fears drag Wall Street down

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NYSE tradersImage source, AFP

Television stocks dragged Wall Street lower on Thursday, after AT&T's update of its subscriber figures renewed fears that people were abandoning cable.

AT&T said it lost 90,000 subscribers in the quarter, while 300,000 people switched to its cheaper service.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.88 points or 0.14% to 22,841.01, and the wider S&P 500 index slipped 4.31 points or 0.17% to 2,550.93.

The tech-focused Nasdaq index dropped 12.04 points or 0.18% to 6,591.51.

Telecommunications stocks led the declines, falling by more than 3.5%.

Shares in AT&T fell by 6.1%. The firm also told investors that recent hurricanes in the US would likely lead to about $210m in losses.

Walt Disney was among the biggest losers on the Dow, down 1.6%, while Verizon fell more than 1%.

Financial stocks were also lower. Both JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup reported higher third quarter profits, despite being hit by a drop in bond trading revenues.

Both banks ended the day with declines. JP Morgan shares were down by 0.88%, while Citigroup lost 3.43%.