Wall Street Eyes Worst Week In 3 Months As Tech Sector Falters; Oil Falls, Bitcoin Hits 1-Month Peak: What's Driving Market Friday?

Wall Street is poised to close the week in the red, with all major indices trading in negative territory at midday in New York, as broader sentiment remains weak following a temporary tech outage caused by a cloud software update from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. CRWD that led to widespread disruptions across several sectors worldwide.

The S&P 500 index is down 0.6% as of 12:50 p.m. ET, extending its weekly decline to 1.8%, marking its worst week since April.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 is underperforming the broader market, down 1%, reflecting general weakness in the technology sector and bringing its weekly loss to 3.9%, also the worst in three months.

The Dow Jones is also affected by Friday’s weak sentiment, down 0.9%, though it still maintains in marginally positive territory for the week.

The small caps of the Russell 2000 index are down only 0.4%, poised to secure another week of relatively better performance compared to large caps.

Treasury yields are rising by a few basis points across the curve, with long-dated bonds — as tracked by the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT — breaking a two-week streak of gains. The dollar ticked higher by 0.1%, while gold fell by 0.4%.

Among commodities, oil is down 1.8%, with WTI light crude falling to $80 a barrel, its lowest level in a month.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin BTC bulls are charging back, with the largest cryptocurrency rallying 3.9%, returning to $66,000, its highest level in a month.

Friday’s Performance In Major US Averages, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.6% lower to $549.53.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA fell by 1% to $402.82.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (ARCA: QQQ) fell 0.8% to $475.87.
• Sector-wise, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund XLV outperformed, up by 0.4%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK lagged, down 1.3%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

• Shares of Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. CRWD tumbled 11%, slightly trimming heavier pre-market losses. Industry peers like SentinelOne Inc. S and Palo Alto Networks Inc. PANW, rose 8% and 2.5% respectively.
• Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. HE rallied over 30% on reports following a report suggesting the company reached a settlement plan over last year’s Maui wildfires.
• Comerica Inc. CMA plummeted 11% on weaker-than-expected outlook on net interest income, despite reporting stronger-than-expected results last quarter. The company also announced it will no longer serve as the financial agent for the U.S. Treasury Direct Express Prepaid Debit Card program.
• Other stocks reacting to company earnings were Netflix Inc. NFLX down 1.1%, Intuitive Surgical Inc. ISRG up 8%, PPG Industries Inc. PPG down 3.7%, Western Alliance Bancorp. WAL, up 8%, American Express Co. AXP, down 3.4%, Schlumberger N.V. SLB up 3.3%, The Travelers Company TRV down over 7%, Halliburton Co. HAL, Huntington Bancshares Inc. HBAN, up 2.3%.
• Crypto-linked stocks like Microstrategy Inc. MSTR, Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, and Riot Platforms Inc. RIOT rose 11.8%, 9.5% and 9.4%, respectively, as Bitcoin rallied.

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