For media stocks the short- to medium-term situation is now looking even worse than it did before the tragedy in the US, when there was already a worry of impending full-scale recession. Advertising levels are likely to drop as media devote much of their space to coverage of the events now unfolding in the States and around the world (see Forecasts).
Analysts are now not expecting any recovery in the advertising market until well into 2002, with further downgrades still definitely on the cards. The television sub-sector is particularly weak throughout Europe.