Wall St. falls as banks weigh; AT&T slumps

Wall Street slipped, after touching record highs earlier in the day, as shares of JPMorgan Chase and those of Citigroup fell after the United States banks posted quarterly earnings. 

Cable company Charter fell 1.6 percent and entertainment conglomerate Viacom lost 4.6 percent on reports that Viacom channels may go off the air in the NY area because of a contract dispute.  Their results kicked off the quarterly reporting period and will be followed by reports on Friday from Bank of America BAC.N and Wells Fargo WFC.N . " But the strength in the global economy has accelerated and a weakening dollar should set up companies for very healthy beats in Q3". 

With the S&P 500 up about 14 percent in 2017, investors are betting on strong earnings growth to sustain the valuation. 

Shares of AT&T dropped, down 5.8 percent as of 3.05pm in NY, after the owner of DirecTV said it lost 90,000 USA video subscribers in the quarter. 

That, along with a brokerage Guggenheim raising concerns over subscriber losses at Disney and Viacom, sent fresh jitters across a sector that was hit a day earlier by President Donald Trump's suggestion to challenge TV network licenses over "fake news". 

DirecTV owner AT&T T.N weighed on the S&P 500 the most, tumbling 6.1 percent after the No.  2 US wireless carrier said it lost 90,000 USA video subscribers in the third quarter due to intense competition and the impact of recent hurricanes.