Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 down 33 points to 8,171
- Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) outage causes havoc
- Retail sales miss the mark
Crowdstrike president blames ‘single content update’ for global IT outage
President George Kurtz of Crowdstrike Holdings, the cybersecurity firm in the hot seat amid a global IT outage, has blamed “a single content update for Windows hosts” for a fault that impacted airlines, emergency services and broadcasters around the world.
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed, Kurtz wrote on X.
Crowdstrike shares are expected to fall sharply when US markets open, with pre-market trades pointing to a 16.5% decline.
LSEG back in full swing
The London Stock Exchange’s regulatory news service (RNS) has resumed operations after going dark this morning due to a global IT outage.
A backlog of RNS statements was published at 10.36am.
LSE trading was unaffected by the global outage, which saw airlines, emergency services, broadcasters and communications networks go offline after an apparent “flawed anti-viral update” from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) caused Microsoft Windows to crash on millions of servers.
Crowdstrike president George Kurtz blamed a “single content update” for the crash.
Markets remain in the red, with the blue-chip FTSE 100 index falling 33 points to 8,171 at the time of writing.
Government borrowing falls
The latest government borrowing data that was eclipsed by the global IT outage ballyhoo this morning showed that borrowing fell sharply in June.
ONS said that UK borrowing in June was £14.5 billion, or down by £3.2 billion from a year ago, and the lowest June borrowing total since June 2019.
Interest payable on central government debt was £7.4 billion, £5.5 billion less than in June 2023, largely because the interest payable on index-linked gilts rises and falls with the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: “The reduction from last year reflected a fall in spending, thanks to lower debt interest payments and the ending of energy support schemes, as well as higher tax revenues.”
FTSE 100 remains in the red
Markets remain bearish this Friday as the global IT shortage continues to throw the usual programme into disarray.
The London Stock Exchange’s regulatory news service (RNS) remains offline, although trading has not been affected.
At the time of writing, the blue-chip index was down 45 points to 8,159.
Ladbrokes, JD Wetherspoon hit by global IT outages
Entain PLC (LON:ENT)-owned bookie Ladbrokes has been hit by the global IT outage apparently caused by a major upgrade issue at Microsoft’s cybersecurity partner Crowdstrike.
Ladbrokes Tweeted: “You might have seen the news about the global technical issue affecting airlines, banks etc. unfortunately we're experiencing this too.
“We're working hard to resolve the issue but don't know when it will be fixed. Thanks for being so patient and apologies for the inconvenience.”
Responding to one gazumped punter, Ladbrokes wrote: “Looks like the shops are impacted too. As it's a global issue you should be able to find out when it's fixed by following the news or right here on X.”
For anyone hoping to bunk off work early and head for a morning pint, make sure to bring cash.
“We can confirm the Wetherspoons app is currently not working. We are working hard to resolve the situation. However, customers can pay for their food and drinks in cash,” the company stated.
Downdetector shows a spike in outages at all major supermarkets including Tesco (LON:TSCO) and Sainsbury’s; payment rails Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Visa (NYSE:V); most major high-street banks; broadcaster Sky; and BT (LON:BT).
Entain shares were last seen 2.1% lower and JD Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) 0.8% lower.