Wall Street stocks fell decisively for a second straight session on Friday, July 19, 2024, following a major IT outage that roiled many businesses at a time when analysts consider the market "overbought."

Airlines, banks, TV stations, and financial institutions were among those thrown into turmoil due to a faulty update to an antivirus program for Windows systems from American cybersecurity group CrowdStrike. The outage added more uncertainty at a time when markets were already edgy over speculation that American President Joe Biden would withdraw from the 2024 campaign.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.9 percent at 40,287.53. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent to 5,505.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.8 percent to 17,726.94.

"The market was extremely overbought so it was just a matter of time before we had a pullback," said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management. "So far it has been relatively mild and I think earnings are going to be an important factor as to whether" the market keeps falling, Cahill said.

Among individual companies, Netflix fell 1.5 percent despite adding eight million new subscribers in the second quarter. However, some analysts said the company's third-quarter revenue forecast was disappointing. Among other companies reporting results, Travelers sank 7.7 percent, while American Express fell 2.7 percent and Schlumberger advanced 2.0 percent.