Shares of Verizon (VZ.US) and AT&T (T.US) have recently been subjected to massive downward pressure due to the highly publicised lead scandal in the US. At issue are telephone cables that were long ago installed in the US and contained lead coating.
However, the problem is affecting the entire industry, Shares of AT&T, Verizon, as well as Lumen Technologies (LUMN.US) lost a combined market value in the region of $18 billion last week.
The WSJ, in an investigative report, communicated that it had found evidence of more than 2,000 lead-coated cables and that "there are likely many more across the country". The problem is the very degradation of this metal, which then goes directly into densely populated areas.
According to reports, the problem could be serious because these cables were installed before 1960, which, due to the lack of accurate information about their location, could result in tens of billions of dollars in losses for corporations.
Reaction to the WSJ report was relatively abrupt. Source: xStation 5
Corporate stocks are extending their long-standing downward waves and are now descending to their multi-year or historic lows. Source: xStation 5
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