On November 13, 2026, a big Microsoft outage hit key services like Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, right when the markets were already shaky for AI stocks and bonds.
With digital tools down, traders had to go old-school with phone calls and even faxes just to keep things moving.
Global finance exposed to Microsoft dependency
The outage slowed things down everywhere: Japan's Ministry of Finance lost email access, Singaporean banks struggled to close deals, and Indian brokerages warned clients about delays.
Even major firms like CMC Markets and BNP Paribas Asset Management had to switch back to phones and fax.
The incident exposed just how much global finance depends on Microsoft, and why that's a bit risky.
Microsoft says it is working on fixes and is seeing positive results with its efforts to restart affected infrastructure.