Data Outage at CME Group Freezes U.S. Stock Futures

A data outage at CME Group halted trading in U.S. stock futures on Friday, causing concern among investors ahead of a shortened trading session. The outage, due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, affected futures across various markets, including S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow.

Trading in U.S. stock index futures came to a halt on Friday due to a data outage at CME Group, the world's largest exchange operator. The situation caused disruptions across futures in currencies, commodities, Treasuries, and stocks.

According to CME Group, the issue began at 9:40 p.m. ET and was linked to cooling complications at their CyrusOne data centers. The outage stopped trading in key futures such as S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow, leaving investors uncertain ahead of a holiday-shortened trading day.

Despite the initial panic, some investors remained optimistic. 'As long as the resolution is in place within the next couple of hours, the impact should be limited,' said Christopher Peters, head of trading at Accendo Markets. Premarket trading showed slight gains in ETFs tracking major indexes, suggesting limited disruption.

(With inputs from agencies.)