After Surgeon General Warning, Booze Takes a Hit

Alcohol manufacturers and distributors likely watched the stock market in dismay on Friday after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a warning tying booze to various cancers. MarketWatch and Reuters report that Constellation Brands, which owns the Corona and Modelo beer brands and Mondavi wines, was down by as much as 1.5%, while Anheuser-Busch InBev (Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois) fell by about 2.7%. Meanwhile, Molson Coors Beverage Company—which features Coors, Molson, and Peroni beers, among others—saw a 3.4% decline, and Jack Daniel's whiskey parent Brown-Forman fell nearly 3%.

Shares for brewers and spirit makers in Europe similarly lost value, though Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors, doesn't think Murthy's warning will be alcohol's death knell. "Most Americans tend to believe that nearly everything is OK in moderation," he tells Reuters. "Thus, much as warning labels alone on cigarette packs did little to curb public smoking, I expect warning labels on alcohol to have little effect."

Murthy noted in his cautionary report on Friday that alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable cancer, behind smoking and obesity, and pushed for warning labels. Business Insider reports that, despite the stock dips, most companies' shares later sprung back to life, "potentially because the incoming Trump administration will soon replace [Murthy], and it's unclear whether they will follow through with Murthy's recommendations." The outlet notes that Murthy has previously called for warning labels on social media and guns, but such steps have yet to be taken in those arenas. (More alcohol stories.)