4.15pm: Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit lows
The Dow's winning streak ended on Friday after concerns over a global IT outage contributed to a broader market sell-off.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7% to finish at 5,505, the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.8% to reach 17,727, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped nearly 1%, closing at 40,288.
The tally also marked the worst week for the Nasdaq and S&P 500 since April.
The tech sector, particularly AI-focused chip stocks, experienced significant losses as investors rotated into small-cap stocks, seen as potential beneficiaries of future interest rate cuts. While initial worries about the IT outage's impact on various sectors eased after CrowdStrike announced a fix, the market also reacted to political developments, including Donald Trump's pledge to end the electric vehicle mandate if elected.
12:42pm: Outage weighs on Wall Street
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were on track for weekly losses in the early afternoon on Friday after a major IT outage hit businesses around the world.
The Dow Jones shed more than 300 points or 0.8% at 40,359 points, while the Nasdaq pulled back 0.5% at 17,777 points and the S&P 500 was down 0.4% at 5,522 points.
Meanwhile, the price of gold pulled back 2% to about $2,400 per ounce.
“The gold price is on track for its third straight day of losses from this week's record high as the US dollar appreciates on safe-haven flows due to a global IT outage which affected banks, hospitals, international airports and grounded airlines,” IG senior market analyst Axel Rudolph commented.
“Next week US earnings, especially in the recently battered tech sector, will be watched closely ahead of Friday's Fed preferred PCE inflation gauge."
11.05am: CrowdStrike CEO apologizes
The Nasdaq hovered near the flatline by midmorning as Crowdstrike regained a bit of ground following a massive global IT outage.
The boss of the cybersecurity firm seemingly to blame for the unprecedented IT outage on Friday said he is “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers”.
Speaking to NBC, George Kurtz, founder and chief executive conceded that it “could be some time for some systems” to come back online.
Kurtz's comments seemed to reassure investors. Shares of CrowdStrike, while still down 8%, had recovered from the 10% losses suffered earlier in the morning.
CrowdStrike apparently caused the global IT meltdown, which saw airlines grounded, emergency services go offline and broadcasters and telecoms companies go dark, because of a defect found in “a single content update” for Microsoft Windows hosts.
9.42am: Wall Street fumbles, Nasdaq flat
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 opened flat at 19,714 and 5,540 respectively today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting 228 points.
Banking stocks caused the biggest drag on the DJIA, with JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM, ETR:CMC) and Goldman Sachs falling more than 3% each.
Boeing, Amazon and Apple are also down.
Luckily for the tech-heavy Nasdaq, buoyant chipmaking stocks including Broadcom, Intel and Nvidia Corp are keeping the index afloat.
8.30am: Nasdaq to hold ground
US stocks look like they will hold their ground when trading commences today, as a major IT outage continues to reverberate around the world.
Microsoft servers crashed in all corners of the world this morning, with the tech giant’s cybersecurity partner CrowdStrike seemingly to blame.
Emergency services went dark as did communications and broadcast services, with CrowdStrike president George Kurtz conceding that “a single content update for Windows hosts” was the culprit.
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted,” said Kurtz.
As the global economy reboots, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is set to open 71 points lower, but the Nasdaq 100 is expected to gain 28 points.
The broader S&P 500, meanwhile, is tipped to open flat at 5,550.
On the company news front, American Express posted a bumper 39% increase in profits in a second-quarter trading update this morning.
Profits were supercharged by high-end spending on travel and entertainment.