Wall Street Expects Worst Week in 3 Months as Tech Sector Collapses; Oil Prices Fall, Bitcoin Hits One-Month High: What’s Driving the Market on Friday?

Wall Street is set to end the week in the red, with all major indexes set to be trading in the red at midday in New York as overall sentiment remains weak following a temporary technical outage caused by a cloud software update CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD), which led to wide-scale disruption across multiple sectors around the world.

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

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index underperformed the broader market, down 1%. Reflecting the broader weakness in the technology sector, the weekly loss was 3.9%, also its biggest loss in three months.

The weak sentiment on Friday also weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 0.9%, although it remains slightly positive this week.

Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 fell just 0.4%, marking another week of relative outperformance compared to large-cap stocks.

Treasury yields are rising by several basis points across the curve, with long-dated bonds rising in line with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) — snapping a two-week winning streak, the dollar rose 0.1% while gold fell 0.4%.

Among commodities, crude oil fell 1.8%, with the price of WTI light crude falling to $80 a barrel, its lowest level in a month.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (CRYPO: BTC) The bulls are back in the game, with the largest cryptocurrency up 3.9% to return to $66,000, its highest level in a month.

Friday’s results for major US averages and ETFs

Major Indices and ETFs	Price	1 Day %
Russell 2000	2,280.98	-0.4%
S&P500	5,509.25	-0.6%
Dow Jones	40 283.08	-0.9%
Nasdaq100	19,514.70	-1.0%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• This SPDR S&P 500 ETF Fund (NYSE:SPY) fell 0.6% to $549.53.
• This SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) fell 1% to $402.82.
• Technologically heavy Invesco QQQ Fund (ARCA:QQQ) fell 0.8% to $475.87.
• In terms of sectors Healthcare Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) outperformed, rising 0.4%, while Select Technology Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) lagged behind, falling 1.3%.

Friday’s Stock Market Movements

• Shares Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) fell 11%, narrowing wider losses slightly ahead of the open. Other industry players such as Home (NASDAQ:S) and Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW), rose 8% and 2.5%, respectively.
• Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (NYSE:HE) surged more than 30% on reports suggesting the company had reached a settlement plan related to last year’s wildfires on Maui.
• Comerica Inc. (NYSE:CMA) fell 11% on a weaker-than-expected net interest income outlook despite reporting better-than-expected results in its latest quarter. The company also announced that it will no longer serve as the financing agent for the U.S. Treasury Direct Express Prepaid Debit Card program.
• Other stocks reacting to the company’s results are: Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) down 1.1%, Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) up 8%, PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE:PPG) down 3.7%, Western Alliance Bancorp. (NYSE:WAL), up 8%, American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP), down 3.4%, Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) up 3.3%, Travel Company (NYSE:TRV) down more than 7%, Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:HBAN), up 2.3%.
• Cryptocurrency related stocks such as Microstrategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR), Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) and Riot Inc. Platforms. (NASDAQ:RIOT) rose 11.8%, 9.5%, and 9.4%, respectively, while Bitcoin gained value.

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