Wall Street followed the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks lower on Friday as leading banks, media outlets and airlines across the world suffered major IT outages. They were among a host of businesses taken offline after a major outage linked to Microsoft (MSFT).
The tech giant said it was taking “mitigation actions” to resolve the issue, which is impacting users’ ability to access apps and services and is believed to be related to an issue at global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD).
CrowdStrike slumped as much as 15%, to a two month low, in New York after the bell, wiping $12.2bn (£9.5bn) off the value of the business.
Airlines and airports across the world were badly impacted by the outage, while the London Stock Exchange group’s platform also experienced issues.
Rail companies were also affected, with Britain’s biggest train company warning passengers to expect disruption. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), parent company of Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern, issued an alert on its social media channels.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ…
