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- 'CEO of supercute': Hello Kitty turns 50
- Australia head coach McDonald handed new deal until 2027
- Visual artist grabs 'decisive moment' to nurture Chad art scene
- Industrial slump leaves Germany on brink of recession
- 'I'm terrified': French auteur Audiard hits Oscars trail for 'Emilia Perez'
- New Indonesia defence chief harks back to dictator's rule
- In Tennessee, the despair of gun control advocates
- US economy's solid growth unlikely to register at ballot box
- 'A treasure': Japan's Ohtani a hometown hero win or lose in World Series
- Botswana votes with ruling party seeking to extend six decades of power
- Bitcoin close to record as cautious markets eye US election
- Hometown hero Volpe lives dream with grand slam for Yankees
- Rested relief pitchers please Roberts even after Dodgers defeat
- UK's Labour govt prepares to deliver decisive first budget
- Beijing files WTO complaint over EU's new taxes on Chinese EVs
- Volpe's grand slam helps Yankees avoid World Series sweep
- Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey
- MotoGP world title in sight as Martin, Bagnaia set for Sepang duel
- 'New wave' as start-up sweeps up Thai ocean plastic
- Botswana votes with ruling party aiming to extend six decades of power
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- EU's extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese EVs angers Beijing
- Rumble in the Jungle remembered after 50 years
- Trump risks backlash with anti-trans ads targeting Harris
- Alzheimer's patient 'relieved' at Quebec's assisted suicide policy shift
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- Bodies found as torrential rains slam Spain
- Harris urges US to turn page on Trump 'chaos' in mass White House rally
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- Harris warns of 'obsessed' Trump power grab at mass Washington rally
- Harris warns against Trump's power grab bid in final election warning
- Southampton, Brentford scrape into League Cup quarter-finals
- PGA players council seeks smaller fields, fewer full tour spots
- Napoli extend lead at top of Serie A with win at AC Milan
- Harris to slam 'unstable' Trump at Washington rally
- Jennifer Lopez to boost Harris at glitzy Las Vegas event
- Global stocks mixed as markets await Big Tech results
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- Google reports strong growth driven by AI, Cloud
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- Bolivia 'going from bad to worse': At the barricades with Morales supporters
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Stocks mostly slide as global tech outage rattles investors
Stock markets mostly slid Friday after computer systems crashed worldwide, with sentiment also hit by US election uncertainty and Chinese economic worries.
The London Stock Exchange saw a delayed start to trading due to the glitch -- the result of an update with a bug -- which also affected airports, airlines, trains, banks, shops and even doctors' surgeries.
The calculation of London's blue-chip FTSE 100 was frozen during afternoon trading.
"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, research director at XTB.
The crash was caused by an update of CrowdStrike antivirus software on Microsoft's cloud computing service.
"We expect this outage to hurt the big tech companies who are also affected; Microsoft's share price is down."
Microsoft's share price fell 1.4 percent at the start of trading in New York.
Shares in CrowdStrike, which has already issued a software fix, tumbled 14.2 percent.
Wall Street's main indices opened lower, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pushed into positive territory after 10 minutes of trading.
Stocks in Europe were lower in afternoon trading and most Asian markets closed down.
Aviation officials in the United States briefly grounded all planes and airlines elsewhere cancelled or delayed flights, as systems running Microsoft Windows crashed.
"The world grinding to a halt because of a global IT meltdown shows the dark side to technology and that relying on computers does not always make life easier," noted Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at stockbroker AJ Bell.
Prior to the news, investors were already on edge after a report said the White House was considering a crackdown on firms supplying chip technology to Beijing.
They were also nervous after Donald Trump's call for Taiwan to pay Washington for help defending itself against China.
Markets have been enjoying a healthy run-up as Federal Reserve officials have lined up in recent days to suggest they are ready to begin reducing rates.
However, the tech sector -- which has led the surge in stocks this year -- has taken a hefty hit after the report of the White House's warning over supplying China and Trump's remarks about Taiwan, home to some of the world's biggest chip producers.
The tech stock rally has also resulted in excessive valuations, according to many analysts, but investors are apparently mostly shifting into other sectors rather than pulling money from the equity market.
But the broadest US stock market index, the Russell 2000, also fell sharply on Thursday.
"It appeared that investors were happier taking some profits following the week-long rotation out of tech and into value, than adding to their exposure," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.
Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com said: "market participants will be watching today's price action closely to see if there is a buy-the-dip inclination or a continued bid to take some money off the table."
There is also growing uncertainty over who will run against Trump in November, as calls for President Joe Biden to step aside continue to grow owing to questions about his health.
- Key figures around 1330 GMT -
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 40,535.29 points
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 at 5,553.51
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 17,897.34
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,161.28
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 7,543.30
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.7 percent at 18,231.80
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.6 percent at 4,841.25
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 40,063.79 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.0 percent at 17,417.68 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 2,982.31 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0889 from $1.0900 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2923 from $1.2946
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.50 yen from 157.36 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 84.26 pence at 84.17 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $81.99 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.9 percent at $84.35 per barrel
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O.Krause--BTB