Shares of cable companies fall

Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. dropped $2.23, or 10.7 percent, to $18.48 in afternoon trading after Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan downgraded the stock to "Underperform" from "Perform."

He advised investors to avoid consumer communications stocks for the rest of the year saying slowing consumer demand in the face of increased supply will dampen business.

"We believe the consumer environment will worsen noticeably in the second half of 2008," Horan wrote in a research note.

The stock's decline accelerated after news that the $700 billion bailout plan for the financial services sector failed in the House.

Shares of New York-based Time Warner Cable Inc. lost $1.71, or 6.8 percent, to $23.53 and St. Louis-based Charter Communications Inc. fell by 4 cents, or 5 percent, to 80 cents.

Cablevision Systems Corp. of Bethpage, N.Y., lost $2.19, or 8.3 percent, to $24.13.