September was a bad month for the Publishers Weekly Stock Index, with only two of the 13 companies on the PWSI seeing an increase in their stock prices. As a result, the PWSI fell 5.9% in the month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined less than one percentage point. September was a particularly poor month for the two retailers on the PWSI, as the stock prices of Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million had the largest drops in the month, with BAM’s share price falling below $2. B&N’s share price has been volatile all year: in August, it had the largest gain among PWSI companies when it rose 14.6%. The two printing companies on the PWSI also had a difficult month, with Courier’s stock price falling 8.6% and Donnelley’s dropping 6.8%. Although it wasn’t the biggest loser in terms of percentage decline in September, Amazon’s stock price had by far the biggest loss in dollar value as its share price fell by $16.60 to close at $322.44 on September 30.
Market Watch
| Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearson | 18.43 | 20.02 | 8.6% |
| Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 19.20 | 19.44 | 1.2% |
| Losers | |||
| Barnes & Noble | 23.86 | 19.74 | -17.3% |
| Books-A-Million | 2.01 | 1.70 | -15.4% |
| CBS | 59.29 | 53.50 | -9.8% |
| Courier Corp. | 13.48 | 12.32 | -8.6% |
| R.R. Donnelley | 17.67 | 16.46 | -6.8% |
| News Corp. | 17.26 | 16.13 | -6.5% |
| Publishers Weekly Stock Index | 617.41 | 581.05 | -5.9% |
| Dow Jones Aver. | 17,098.45 | 17,042.90 | -0.3% |
