$145 Billion Tobacco Award Was Priced Into the Market

Updated from 4:31 p.m. EDT

It's the biggest liability award in U.S. business history. Even so, it seems, the staggering $145 billion smoker settlement had been figured into the price of tobacco stocks.

Tobacco stocks slipped Friday after a Miami jury ordered cigarette makers to pay $145 billion in punitive damages, a penalty that would theoretically bankrupt the industry many times over. Still, despite the staggering sum, shares of cigarette makers barely budged after the verdict was announced, closing just 1% to 3% lower.

That may be in part because investors had largely priced in a substantial penalty amount. In addition, the companies have proven themselves able adversaries after weathering a number of tobacco-related lawsuits and winning most of them. ...