Stock Market Today: Wall Street Broadly Flat as CrowdStrike Falls After Global Tech Outage

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street remained largely calm Friday and U.S. stocks held relatively steady, even as companies around the world struggled to contain the effects of a disruptive technology failure.

The S&P 500 index was virtually unchanged in morning trading, a day after a widespread eradication The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 206 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:20 a.m. ET, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was virtually flat.

Relatively calm trading was disrupted by a major outage flights, banks and even doctor appointments anywhere in the world. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the issue believed to be causing the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack and that it had deployed a patch. The company said the problem was a faulty update sent to computers running Microsoft Windows.

CrowdStrikes shares fell 9.6%, while Microsoft was flat.

Long lines of frustrated passengers formed at airports around the world as the outage affected check-in procedures, initially helping to send U.S. airline stocks tumbling. But they quickly pared their losses, with United Airlines posting a 0.1% gain. The company said many travelers could face delays and issued a waiver to make it easier to change travel plans.

American Airlines Group fell 0.3% and Delta Air Lines slipped 0.4%.

Corporate results also moved stock prices, with Comerica falling 12.7%, even though it posted much better results in the spring than analysts had expected. The bank said it received preliminary notification that it had not been selected to continue issuing the Direct Express debit card to about 4.5 million federal benefit recipients, a program it has offered since 2008.

American Express fell 4.1% after its revenue for the latest quarter missed analysts' forecasts. It was one of the heaviest weights in the S&P 500 despite reports higher than expected profit.

Among the winners on Wall Street was Huntington Bancshares, which rose 3% after reporting better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter. The company reported growth in various forms of earnings as its total deposits increased.

Netflix was swinging between gains and losses after the streaming giant reported a profit for the last quarter that beat analysts' expectations. It had recently been flat.

Halliburton fell 4.1% after the energy services provider reported a profit that met analysts' expectations in the latest quarter but missed on revenue. Rival SLB gained 3.7% after reporting a profit that beat expectations.

The S&P 500 is on track for its worst week since April, even though it hit a record high on Tuesday. Initially, pressure mounted on the The big tech stocks that were the biggest winners in the markets This year, despite criticism, they simply became too expensive after their prices skyrocketed. Nvidiafor example, is up more than 140% for the year so far, driven by Wall Street fluctuations frenzy around artificial intelligence technology.

Such declines have a negative impact on the S&P 500 because they give more weight to larger stocks, and big tech companies are by far the largest on Wall Street. Gains in some previously unpopular areas of the market, including smaller stocks and companies whose profits are closely tied to the strength of the economy, have helped offset some of those declines.

This rotation may continue, but not necessarily because stocks are rising faster, but because they are falling less, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. The eventual improvement in fundamentals for small and value stocks could help cushion the decline and provide nice long-term opportunities.

Wall Street slumped Thursday, dragging most of the market's stocks down, including struggling small companies and so-called value stocks. It's a step backward for U.S. stocks after the S&P 500 hit an all-time high 38 times this year.

Along with the rise in big tech stocks, hopes for a better future lower interest rates The Federal Reserve's stimulus measures also boosted the market and pushed down Treasury yields.

Bond yields were flat on Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained at 4.20%, where it was late Thursday.

In overseas stock markets, indices were mostly down in Europe and Asia. Stock indices fell 2 percent in Hong Kong and rose 0.2 percent in Shanghai after Chinese officials briefed reporters in Beijing on the outcome of a high-level meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB). Communist Party in power. They provided few details of the ambitious plan they endorsed to make China a technology leader, develop its financial markets and raise living standards.

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AP Business reporters Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.