Communication Services sector roundup — 2026-10-12
Communication Services was the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 on Friday, falling 0.58% while the broader index rose 0.6%.
Communication Services was the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 on Friday, falling 0.58%¹ while the broader index rose 0.6%².
The downward move was broad, with the median stock returning -1.04%³ and only 43.8% of companies in the sector finishing the day in the green⁴. Heavy losses among telecommunications firms drove the slide, specifically T-Mobile US (-13.27%)⁵, AT&T (-10.82%)⁶, and Verizon (-10.14%)⁷. This was reflected at the industry level, where telephone communications (excluding radiotelephone) saw a median return of -10.48%⁸. In contrast, the sector's largest company, Alphabet, rose 0.87%⁹, while Meta and Netflix fell 0.31%¹⁰ and 1.77%¹¹, respectively. Other gainers included Take-Two Interactive (1.94%)¹², EchoStar (1.59%)¹³, and Disney (0.96%)¹⁴.
Recent performance shows mixed results against the S&P 500. While the sector has been ahead of the index by 0.91 percentage points over the last month¹⁵, it trails the index by 2.75 percentage points over the last three months¹⁶. Longer-term returns for the sector stand at 4.57% year-to-date¹⁷ and 13.38% over the last 12 months¹⁸.
Educational tool. Not investment advice. This article was produced with automated assistance. Every figure in it was checked against the underlying data before it was published; the interpretation was not.