Stock markets fell on Friday after computer systems crashed worldwide, and sentiment was also weighed down by US election uncertainty and Chinese economic concerns. The London Stock Exchange began trading later than usual due to a glitch caused by a bug in an update, which also affected airports, airlines, trains, banks, shops, and doctors’ appointments.
Later, the calculation of London’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index, as well as the main index for the LSE-owned Milan stock exchange, was halted for a portion of the afternoon. Stock trading was unaffected.
“Risk aversion is taking hold yet again, with news that banks, airports, train companies, TV stations including Sky News, stock exchanges including the LSE, Microsoft’s cloud services and cyber security services have all been hit by major online outages,” said Kathleen Brooks, the research director at XTB.
Aviation officials in the United States briefly grounded all planes, and airlines around the world canceled or delayed flights after Microsoft Windows-based systems crashed.
“The world grinding to a halt because of a global IT meltdown shows the dark side of technology and that relying on computers does not always make life easier,” noted Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at stockbroker AJ Bell.
Before the news, investors were already concerned after a report said the White House was considering a crackdown on companies that supply chip technology to China.
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