Media stocks underperform despite Fed rate cut

March 19, 2008 An unusually hefty though widely expected U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut Tuesday led to the biggest Wall Street rally in five years, but media stocks underperformed. The S&P 500 leapt 4.2% after Fed chairman Benjamin Bernanke cut its benchmark rate by 75 basis points to its lowest level in three years, though The Hollywood Reporter Showbiz 50 stock index rose less than 4%, with small media companies outperforming their larger brethren. The remaining top 10 movers have market caps of less than $1 billion, including Live Nation (up 9.6%), Sinclair Broadcast (8.4%), Martha Stewart Living (7.9%), Blockbuster (7.4%), Entercom Communications (7.1%), TiVo (6.9%) and Avid Technology (6.7%).

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