LONDON — European markets closed lower on Friday as investors assessed the global IT outage linked to issues at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike persisted.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.77% lower as travel — one of the sectors most affected — tumbled 2.07%.
European markets have retreated throughout the week, with the Stoxx 600 closing lower on five consecutive days.
The picture was similar across the world, with Asia-Pacific markets declining on Friday.
U.S. markets fell, as Wall Street continues to monitor a rotation from big tech into small cap stocks along with the IT turmoil.
On Friday, an update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike led to a major global IT outage that impacted businesses and crucial services including health care. Microsoft was one of the affected companies, with Windows laptops around the world showing error screens.
Many flights remained grounded or were severely delayed as airlines and airports grappled with the impact of the issue.
CrowdStrike’s CEO confirmed on social media that a fix had been deployed but did not provide details about how long the issues could last.
Earnings and trading updates were out from Danske Bank, Burberry and Hermes on Friday.
