Stock market ends worst week since April | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell Friday as companies around the world struggled to contain the effects of a disruptive technology problem.

The S&P 500 index fell 0.7%, its first week down in three weeks and its worst week since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 377 points, or 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8%.

It was only Tuesday that the S&P 500 hit its latest all-time high. At first, pressure mounted on technology stocks, which had been the market’s biggest winners, with critics accusing them of simply becoming too expensive. Shares of Nvidia, for example, are still up 138% this year amid the frenzy around artificial intelligence technology, even after falling 2.6% on Friday and 8.8% for the week.

Gains in previously unpopular sectors of the market helped offset some of the declines: Small stocks and companies whose profits are closely tied to the strength of the economy rose. That raised hopes for a market where more stocks are rising rather than a handful of dominant elites, which market watchers say would be healthier.

“This rotation may continue, but it doesn’t always have to be that yields are rising faster, it could be because they’re falling less,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

Momentum in the market’s hardest-hit sectors may be waning. The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 0.6% Friday, its third straight decline, after a stellar five-day rally in which it soared 11.5%. Three out of four stocks in the S&P 500 also fell.

Friday's measures come as a major software update failure disrupted flights, banking and even medical appointments around the world.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the alleged issue causing the problem was not a security incident or cyberattack and that it had deployed a patch.

The company said the problem was caused by a faulty update sent to computers running Microsoft Windows.

CrowdStrike shares fell 11.1%, while Microsoft shares lost 0.8%.

Cybersecurity industry analyst Richard Stiennon called the mistake a historic error on CrowdStrike's part, but he also said he didn't think it was indicative of a larger problem in the cybersecurity industry or in CrowdStrike as a company.

“We all know that you can make a typo, make a typo, etc. We don't yet know the technical details of how this caused the blue screen of death for users,” he said.

“The markets will forgive them, the customers will forgive them, and it will all work out.”

CrowdStrike shares pared their losses somewhat on the day, but still posted their worst performance since 2022.

Shares of rival cybersecurity companies rose, with SentinelOne up 7.8% and Palo Alto Networks up 2.2%.

The problem paralyzed check-in procedures at airports around the world, causing long lines of frustrated passengers. It initially helped send U.S. airline stocks tumbling, but they quickly pared their losses. United Airlines posted a 3.3% gain.

She said many travelers could experience delays and issued an exemption to make it easier to change travel plans.

American Airlines Group fell 0.4% and Delta Air Lines rose 1.2%.

Comerica shares fell 10.5%, one of the biggest losses on the market, even though it posted better spring earnings than analysts expected.

The bank said it received preliminary notification that it would not continue to issue the Direct Express debit card to about 4.5 million federal benefit recipients, a program it has offered since 2008.

American Express shares fell 2.7% after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of analysts' forecasts, a key reason for the Dow's slide despite a profit that beat expectations.

Halliburton shares fell 5.6% after the energy services provider met analysts' expectations for profit in the latest quarter but missed on revenue.

Overall, the S&P 500 fell 39.59 points to 5,505.00.

The Dow fell 377.49 points, or 0.9 percent, to 40,287.53, and the Nasdaq lost 144.28 points to 17,726.94.

In the bond market, yields rose slightly. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose from 4.20% to 4.23% late Thursday.

Information for this article was provided by Matt Ott, Elaine Kurtenbach and Alan Suderman of The Associated Press.