Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Buyer conviction is lacking once again at the start of today's trading session. That is owed in part to the struggles of the mega-cap stocks, which have been under selling pressure throughout the week and have lacked convincing buy-the-dip support.

The mega-cap stocks are modestly positive at this time and that disposition has helped returns at the index level.

Separately, while most expected the market to be fixed today on the earnings reports from Netflix (NFLX 644.66, +1.62, +0.3%) and Dow components American Express (AXP 239.06, -10.14, -4.1%) and Travelers (TRV 209.72, -10.88, -4.9%), the focal point has been the news that a bug in a CrowdStrike (CRWD 312.70, -30.35, -8.9%) technical update infiltrated Microsoft's (MSFT 438.51, -1.86, -0.4%) operating systems, triggering business disruptions globally that have included airports and airlines, among other businesses, from operating normally (if at all).

CrowdStrike said the bug was identified and that it rolled back its update, enabling some systems to come back online; however, it has not been a smooth and catch-all recovery process for affected businesses.