What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the latest U.S. consumer confidence report revealed underlying weakness despite a headline increase, raising concerns about future spending. 

While the Conference Board's headline Consumer Confidence Index rose to 97.2 in July, the details painted a more cautious picture for investors. The Present Situation Index, a measure of consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, actually fell. More telling for the sector, the report showed a decline in buying intentions for major discretionary items such as homes, cars, and most appliances. This combination of factors signals potential weakness in future consumer spending, casting a shadow over companies that rely on non-essential purchases.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Broadcasting company iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) fell 3%. Is now the time to buy iHeartMedia? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Wireless, Cable and Satellite company Charter (NASDAQ: CHTR) fell 4.9%. Is now the time to buy Charter? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Casino Operator company MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM) fell 3.3%. Is now the time to buy MGM Resorts? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Consumer Electronics company Sonos (NASDAQ: SONO) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Sonos? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Media company Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) fell 3.9%. Is now the time to buy Warner Bros. Discovery? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Charter (CHTR)

Charter’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 8 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock dropped 17.2% on the news that the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and a larger-than-anticipated loss of internet subscribers. 

The telecommunications company reported earnings of $9.18 per share, falling short of analyst expectations that were closer to $9.80. A major point of concern for investors was the company's loss of 111,000 residential internet customers, a steeper decline than the 73,250 losses analysts had anticipated. The weak results were compounded by a 19.3% year-over-year decrease in free cash flow, which landed at $1.0 billion for the quarter. While the company did manage to add 500,000 mobile lines, this positive development was not enough to offset the broader weakness in its core internet and video businesses, the latter of which also saw customer losses.

Charter is down 19.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $281.70 per share, it is trading 34.1% below its 52-week high of $427.25 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Charter’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $497.33.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story.