Microsoft outage enters a second day: Outlook and Exchange Online are still recovering, and MSFT stock has erased its premarket drop
Bloomberg, cited by Oninvest, called the outage one of the longest in Microsoft's history. The share price reaction has so far been brief.
What happened
The disruption began on Thursday, November 12. ABC News reported that Microsoft first said it was investigating users in the Americas who could not reach Exchange Online mailboxes, then widened the warning to Microsoft 365 connectivity in any region. Reports on Downdetector for Outlook peaked at about 130,000 on Thursday afternoon, according to Forbes.
Microsoft's explanation changed as the day went on. It first pointed to unusually high load on its infrastructure, then said the load came from a number of servers becoming unexpectedly unavailable, not from a surge in traffic. According to Forbes, the company later said a process that establishes secure connections had been overwhelmed, which caused the affected servers to stop responding. Early fixes did not hold. Microsoft paused deployments, moved traffic and restarted servers, and at around 6 p.m. ET on Thursday said it was returning some servers to service while warning they could become unresponsive again once they received traffic, ABC News reported.
By Friday morning the picture was better but not clean. Forbes reported that a newer patch was showing positive results for server stability and was being extended to more servers, with no estimate for full restoration. Fox Business, citing Microsoft's updates at 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. ET, reported recovery in Europe and Asia Pacific and improvement in North America, with a warning that some users could still see intermittent problems. Microsoft also extended its email timeout window to 48 hours so that delayed messages can still be delivered into Saturday. We have not seen a statement from Microsoft declaring the incident closed.
Besides Outlook, the affected services included Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Defender XDR, Forbes reported. The effects spread beyond Microsoft's own products. New York City's Emergency Management Department warned that email to city agencies and some online services could be delayed, according to ABC News. Oninvest reported that OpenAI and Anthropic flagged problems with their Microsoft connectors, that Euronext reported email problems at its listing divisions, that Workhorse Group moved its results from November 12 to November 16 and that Richemont briefly delayed its half-year results.
What the market is pricing
There is no prediction market on the outage itself, so the reading here is the share price. Figures are from Twelve Data, read at 17:09 UTC, with the premarket level from our markets desk's reading at 10:44 UTC.
| Microsoft (MSFT) | Price | Change vs Thursday close ($523.00) |
|---|---|---|
| Premarket, 10:44 UTC | about $510 | -2.49% |
| Regular session open | $519.51 | -0.67% |
| Session low so far | $513.90 | -1.74% |
| Last trade, 17:09 UTC | $524.13 | +0.22% |
Microsoft closed Thursday at $523.00, up 0.36%, on the day the outage began. Friday's premarket weakness had gone by midday in New York, and the stock was slightly positive in a falling market: the Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the Nasdaq-100, was down 1.57% at $677.36 and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF was down 0.69% at $751.86 at the same reading. The larger drag on technology shares on Friday was the sell-off in semiconductors, covered in our report on why chip stocks are down. At $524.13, Microsoft is about 6.3% below its 52-week high of $559.15.
Why it matters
The muted reaction fits a familiar pattern with outages at large software providers: the immediate cost is limited, and the question is what happens to customer behaviour later. Josh Gilbert of eToro told Reuters, as reported by Oninvest, that investors are likely to tolerate the disruption for now because customers find it hard to leave the Microsoft ecosystem, but that repeated outages could lead IT departments to think again about depending on one provider for more of their business processes.
Repetition is the relevant word. Forbes noted that Microsoft 365 had an earlier outage in August that took a few days to clear after a code update. And because Exchange Online sits underneath so many other tools, including third-party AI assistants that connect to it, a mail outage now has a wider footprint than it did a few years ago.
What to watch next
First, Microsoft's confirmation that service is fully restored and that queued email has been delivered, with the 48-hour delivery window running into Saturday afternoon. Second, the post-incident report: Microsoft has said it will share full details once mitigation is complete, and the root cause will shape how customers and regulators respond. Third, the wider technology tape, with Nvidia's results due on November 17 and rate expectations still shifting, as tracked on our Fed rate decision odds page and in the live markets list.
Method and limits
Outage details are as reported by Forbes, ABC News, Fox Business and Oninvest from Microsoft's service updates; the latest Microsoft update reflected here is from 7 a.m. ET on Friday, and the situation may have changed since. Share prices are single Twelve Data readings at the times shown. Nothing here is a forecast by BetG8 or investment advice.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Outlook still down?
As of Microsoft updates at 7 a.m. ET on November 13, 2026, recovery was progressing in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, but some users could still see intermittent problems and Microsoft had given no time for full restoration. Check the Microsoft 365 service health page for the current status.
What caused the Microsoft outage?
Microsoft said a process that establishes secure connections was overwhelmed, causing affected Exchange Online servers to stop responding. It has not confirmed a root cause and said it has no evidence of malicious activity.
How did Microsoft stock react to the outage?
Microsoft fell about 2.5% in premarket trading on November 13, 2026, to around $510, then recovered. It traded at $524.13 at 17:09 UTC, up 0.22% from the $523.00 close on Thursday, according to Twelve Data.
Sources
- Forbes, Microsoft 365 outage improves into Friday
- ABC News, Microsoft Outlook outage updates
- Fox Business, Microsoft Outlook returns for some as users face second day of outages
- Oninvest, Microsoft shares fell 2% due to a major outage
- Twelve Data, MSFT, QQQ and SPY quotes, read 17:09 UTC
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