July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Friday as investors paused after a grueling two-day selloff, while Crowdstrike 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.O), lost 11.8% in premarket trading after customers were impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Microsoft (MSFT.O), Windows hosts.
Microsoft (MSFT.O), shed 1.3%, on track for its fourth straight day of losses driven by a rout in tech stocks.
London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG.L), 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 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.O), and Amazon.com (AMZN.O), losing around 1% each, while Apple (AAPL.O), and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), were up 0.6%.
Chip stocks also struggled for direction. Micron Technology (MU.O), 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 (.IXIC), has fallen 3.5%, the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), lost 2.1% and the Russell 2000 (.RUT), snapped a five-day winning streak on Wednesday.
Signaling investor unease, the VIX (.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.O), , Fortinet (FTNT.O), and SentinelOne (S.N), rose between 1.2% and 6.6% after the global disruption.
Among single movers, Netflix (NFLX.O), 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.O), climbed 5% after second-quarter results beat estimates.
SLB (SLB.N), gained 2% as the top oilfield services provider beat estimates for second-quarter profit, while Travelers Companies (TRV.N), 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
