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Netflix ( NFLX ) slips on downbeat Q3 revenue, subscriber additions
forecast
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SLB up after beating quarterly profit estimates
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Insurer Travelers gains on higher Q2 profit
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Futures down: Dow 0.17%, S&P 500 0.01%, Nasdaq 0.04%
(Updated at 7:05 a.m. ET/ 1105 GMT)
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Ankika Biswas
July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were
subdued on Friday as investors paused after a grueling two-day
selloff, while Crowdstrike ( CRWD ) slumped after the cybersecurity firm
identified an issue impacting Windows users amid a sweeping
global tech outage.
Major U.S. airlines ordered ground stops citing
communication issues, while some financial services firms and
banks reported system outages that disrupted their operations.
Crowdstrike ( CRWD ) lost 11.8% in premarket trading after
customers were impacted by a defect found in a single content
update for Microsoft Windows hosts.
Microsoft ( MSFT ) shed 1.3%, on track for its fourth
straight day of losses driven by a rout in tech stocks.
London Stock Exchange Group's ( LDNXF ) Workspace news and
data platform was also hit by the outage, affecting user access
worldwide and leading to disruptions across financial markets,
while Euronext said some North American stocks-based indices
were being broadcast incorrectly.
"The inconvenience caused by the loss of access to services
for thousands of people serves as a reminder of our dependence
on Big Tech such as Microsoft ( MSFT ) in running our daily lives and
businesses," said Jake Moore, global security advisor at ESET.
"Businesses must test their infrastructure and have multiple
fail safes in place, however large the company is."
The disruption comes after a grueling two sessions for Wall
Street, as investors assessed second-quarter earnings and a move
away from megacap tech stocks that have primarily driven the
equity rally in 2024.
Megacaps stocks were largely mixed, with Nvidia ( NVDA )
and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) losing around 1% each, while Apple ( AAPL )
and Alphabet were up 0.6%.
Chip stocks also struggled for direction. Micron
Technology ( MU ) and U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing were down more than 1%, while Arm Holdings
jumped nearly 3%.
Over the past two sessions, the tech-laden Nasdaq
has fallen 3.5%, the benchmark S&P 500 lost 2.1% and the
Russell 2000 snapped a five-day winning streak on
Wednesday.
Signaling investor unease, the VIX - Wall Street's
"fear gauge" - was trading above 16 points, its highest since
late April.
Investors will also await comments from U.S. Federal Reserve
officials John Williams and Raphael Bostic for hints on the
monetary policy path later in the day.
Markets have broadly priced in a 25-basis-point
interest-rate cut from the Fed's September meeting and still
expect two cuts by the year-end according to LSEG data.
At 7:05 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 70 points,
or 0.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or
0.01%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 8.25 points, or
0.04%.
Meanwhile, other cybersecurity companies including Palo Alto
Networks ( PANW ), Fortinet ( FTNT ) and SentinelOne ( S ) rose
between 1.2% and 6.6% after the global disruption.
Among single movers, Netflix ( NFLX ) slipped 0.6% after the
streaming giant cautioned that third-quarter subscriber gains
would be lower than a year earlier and forecast third-quarter
revenue below estimates.
Intuitive Surgical ( ISRG ) climbed 5% after second-quarter
results beat estimates.
SLB gained 2% as the top oilfield services
provider beat estimates for second-quarter profit, while
Travelers Companies ( TRV ) rose 1.1% following a rise in
second-quarter profit.
(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru;
Editing by Pooja Desai and Devika Syamnath)