Category: 3. Business

By Canan Sevgili, Paolo Laudani, Vera Dvorakova and Alessandro Parodi

(Reuters) -In the year since Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president, global financial markets have had to navigate policy shocks and unprecedented uncertainty and high volatility, with stocks, gold and crypto hitting record highs.

After Trump defeated Democratic rival Kamala Harris on November 5, 2024, the dollar roared higher, along with stocks and bitcoin, while Treasury yields rose, as investors priced in the likelihood of greater strain on U.S. finances.

Since then, the U.S. administration has struck deals on trade, while upending global supply chains and decades of post-war international diplomacy.

Investors are learning to ride out the unpredictability, including clear ways to trade Trump’s tendency to amp up threats only to later back down. The so-called TACO trade – “Trump always chickens out” – has become a feature.

Here is a snapshot of where major markets are now, compared to when Trump was elected.

UP THE BIT, DOWN THE GREEN

The dollar has offered the clearest reflection of how the rest of the world has reacted to Trump’s erratic approach. It surged after the election, as investors bought into the idea that a Trump-fuelled spending splurge would fuel the economy, but it has lost a net 4% in value since then.

Trump’s tariffs on trade partners and uncertainty over their impact have driven investors to find alternatives. His crypto-friendly policies, which have drawn scrutiny over unprecedented conflict of interest, have sent bitcoin to a record high of $125,835.92 in October. Geopolitical tensions and tariffs have also driven gold, a classic safe-haven, to a record $4,381 an ounce in October.

Demand for dollars is unlikely to wane any time soon as when financial market turbulence or geopolitics heats up, it is often investors’ first choice, or “the cleanest dirty shirt”, as Piotr Matys, senior FX analyst at In Touch Capital Markets, says.

CHECKING IN ON STOCKS

Stock markets everywhere have hit record highs this year, powered in large part by enthusiasm over artificial intelligence and the prospect of lower global interest rates.

Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff announcement was a first major test and it hit markets hard. The MSCI World Index tumbled 10%, but has since rebounded to record highs, gaining over 20% since Election Day.

The S&P 500 is up 17% since last November, thanks to AI fever, while in Europe, defense stocks have been at the heart of the rally, as Trump forced regional governments to spend more on their own security, while war rages in Ukraine. Tech-fueled rallies and a softer dollar have boosted equities in Japan, South Korea, and China too.

TESLA – AN ELECTRIC YO-YO

Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, was a key driver of Tesla stock in the weeks after the election. Musk had spent over $250 million backing Trump’s reelection bid last year and even joined his campaign trail.

Musk’s fortune swelled, as shares in his EV maker almost doubled in less than two months to hit a record high of $488.5.

But the honeymoon did not last. After Musk launched Trump’s budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in January, Tesla’s brand loyalty rate dropped dramatically as the CEO’s flirtation with politics spooked buyers, contributing to a drop in deliveries for two consecutive quarters.

Tesla shares hit a low in April before rebounding as tensions between Musk and Trump spilled into the open, culminating in a split by late May.

Despite the turbulence, the world’s most valuable carmaker has outperformed struggling legacy rivals, including Detroit’s GM, Ford and Stellantis.

BOND YIELDS RISE

Since Trump’s election, bond yields have surged across major economies, reflecting investor concerns over rising government borrowing and the sustainability of public finances.

One of the concerns among investors in U.S. Treasuries was the likely cost of funding Trump’s planned tax cuts. His “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which passed in July, is expected to increase the federal deficit by around $3.8 trillion in the coming 10 years.

However, with the Federal Reserve cutting rates and inflation seemingly contained, 30-year Treasury yields are up just 14 basis points at 4.66% since last November.

The rise in Japanese government bonds (JGB) has been more aggressive, with 30-year yields up nearly 85 basis points to record highs while French and German 30-year yields are up 62 and 59 bps, respectively, since November 5, 2024.

BALANCING TRADE

One of Trump’s key areas of focus is the U.S. trade balance, something he says is proof America is being “ripped off” by partner countries and that tariffs, aside from being “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” are the only way to correct it.

Trump’s tariffs have driven up the cost of doing business and made planning more complicated. But they are eroding the trade deficit. The most recent data shows it hit a two-year low of $60.2 billion in June, and the deficit with China shrank by 70% over five months to its lowest level in over 21 years.

Similarly, the U.S.-EU trade balance spiked ahead of the tariff announcement before declining. This suggests that “the trade war may be hurting the EU more than it does China,” which has a stronger back-up plan than the Europeans, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst with Swissquote.

(Reporting by Canan Sevgili, Paolo Laudani, Vera Dvorakova, and Alessandro Parodi, Additional reporting by Arda Dipova; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Conor Humphries)

Xage Security, vendor of Zero Trust access and protection, announced the integration of its Xage Fabric Platform with the NVIDIA BlueField Data Processing Unit (DPU), delivering advanced security controls for AI factories and critical infrastructure. 

Leveraging the advanced hardware acceleration of BlueField-3, Xage scales identity-based access controls across massive data centers and mission-critical environments, ensuring exceptional performance and resilience. With Xage’s Zero Trust enforcement for humans, systems, AI models and agents, organizations gain a complete, closed-loop security architecture. 

“Given the massive innovation opportunities of AI, we need to make sure that organizations’ deployments are not held back by cybersecurity gaps—and we need to have the necessary protections run at extraordinary speed and scale,” said Roman Arutyunov, co-founder and senior vice president of product at Xage Security. “That’s why we’re collaborating with NVIDIA to help deliver lightning-fast and jailbreak-proof security at the heart of the modern AI factory and AI-enabled critical infrastructure.”

“As AI factories emerge as the foundational infrastructure accelerating AI innovation, safeguarding them has become a critical priority,” said Ofir Arkin, senoir distinguished architect for cybersecurity at NVIDIA. “Together, NVIDIA BlueField and Xage’s zero-trust security enable organizations to modernize their protection strategies across AI factories and infrastructure —driving secure, scalable innovation forward.”

Agentic AI systems rely on autonomous agents that collaborate with other agents, models, and APIs to make decisions and take action. Xage’s dynamic access control integration of NVIDIA BlueField provides a software-defined, hardware-accelerated foundation to govern and enforce data flows between agents and models in real time.

Xage applies least-privilege controls at every step of these interactions, governing not only which agents can access specific data, pipelines, or models, but also the exact actions agents can perform, and for how long. With role-based segmentation running at line speed on BlueField, organizations can prevent unauthorized privilege escalation and data leakage, and enforce policy-based privilege deescalation to block risky actions, ensuring that AI agents remain trustworthy and compliant as they scale and evolve.

To further safeguard operations, Xage delivers definitive, resilient controls that are enforced even as AI systems self-modify or generate new behaviors. This gives enterprises the confidence to unlock the full productivity and potential of agentic AI, without exposing themselves to undue risk, even in the most complex, autonomous environments.

Xage also enforces secure separation of AI workloads, preventing lateral movement and safeguarding datasets, workloads, and models. Thanks to its implementation directly on the BlueField DPU, Xage’s identity-based segmentation operates at line speed, delivering low-latency, high-efficiency security that reduces the attack surface without sacrificing performance.

Finally, Xage delivers full-stack protection for mission-critical systems and applications, providing robust access controls and protection not just for AI, but the full IT and operational technology (OT) stack in the data center and critical infrastructure environments.

By running on NVIDIA BlueField, Xage brings hardware-accelerated Zero Trust enforcement to the most demanding environments, from data centers to critical infrastructure in sectors such as energy, manufacturing, utilities, and transportation where millions of assets and billions of data flows must be secured in real time. 

This integration makes it possible to govern and enforce access to assets and data at unprecedented scale, preventing unauthorized activity and containing threats before they can disrupt essential services.

Beyond protection and performance, Xage provides auditable identity and access controls to help organizations achieve compliance with cybersecurity and AI regulations, including NIST, NERC CIP, EU NIS2, and U.S. Zero Trust mandates. By supporting full visibility into who or what acts on data, models, and infrastructure, Xage builds assurance into AI-powered operations.

Global travel buyers are showing renewed confidence in the business travel sector, with 43 per cent now optimistic about the industry’s outlook for the remainder of 2025, according to the latest GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) survey.

The October survey, which polled 591 travel buyers and suppliers worldwide, found that optimism among buyers had increased by 15 percentage points compared to the association’s previous July survey.

Buyers’ outlook on business travel spending stayed relatively consistent compared with three months ago, with 30 per cent expecting a decrease in spend this year (compared with 31 per cent in July). On average, travel spend is expected to decline by 19 per cent, up slightly from 17 per cent in July.

EMEA-based travel buyers are least likely to expect a decline in volume (29 per cent) or spending (23 per cent) compared to their peers in other regions.

A third of buyer respondents (35 per cent) said they expect travel volumes to decline as a direct a result of US government actions, including the ongoing government shutdown. This decline is also expected to be around 19 per cent.

Suppliers too are regaining confidence. In October, 37 per cent expect a drop in business travel revenue, compared to 48 per cent in July.

Revenue concerns are most pronounced among accommodation suppliers (59 per cent), which is consistent with July’s result (58 per cent). Travel management companies are less likely to expect a decrease (32 per cent in October compared to 48 per cent in July) while more airline professionals expect a decline (50 per cent in October versus 39 per cent in July).

“This latest poll reflects what has always been the industry’s innate ability to innovate and change – to succeed in the face of challenges,” said GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang.

“Business travel is showing signs of resilience and adaptation, with optimism rebounding and new patterns emerging. However, the poll results also underscore the need for thoughtful strategies to navigate external pressures and internal policy shifts,” she said.

Shifting business travel patterns

Nearly two in five travel buyers (39 per cent) reported an increase in “linked” or multi-meeting/multi-destination trips, according to GBTA’s October poll. One-third (33 per cent) have seen longer trip durations and another third (32 per cent) said day trips have decreased in the past year. 

Forty-three per cent of travel programmes now also have defined policies for blended or “bleisure” travel, with 71 per cent of buyers citing benefits of improved employee satisfaction and 68 per cent noting better work-life balance. 

However, concerns remain for travel managers around duty of care (59 per cent), expense tracking (55 per cent) and insurance coverage (46 per cent).

Meanwhile, some employees are also paying out-of-pocket for travel upgrades. Two in five travel managers (43 per cent) said their employees at least occasionally pay for upgrades that aren’t covered by company policy. These include flight cabin upgrades (78 per cent) followed by airport lounge access (30 per cent) and extra hotel nights (29 per cent).

The company expands its global network of interconnected SOCs and reinforces its commitment to cybersecurity and technological innovation in Spain.

The SOC network offers advanced cybersecurity services through proactive monitoring, early detection of cyberattacks, analysis, response and incident management — ensuring client trust.

Atos Modern Security Operations Center (MSOC) stands out for its adaptability and flexibility to the specific needs of each client, providing advanced and scalable solutions.

This strategic facility includes crisis rooms, continuous monitoring areas, cybersecurity labs for IT, OT, and IoT, and a dedicated cybersecurity training center — all essential to the continuous development of top national talents.

This MSOC is creating a new cybersecurity environment that leverages state-of-the-art technology.

 

Paris, France & Madrid, Spain – November 3, 2025

Atos, a global leader of AI-powered digital transformation, today announces that its state-of-the-art Modern Security Operations Center (MSOC) was inaugurated in Seville on October 31 during a ceremony chaired by Jorge Paradela, Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Spain.

The Andalusian Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines and President of the Andalusian Digital Agency (ADA), Jorge Paradela, highlighted that “the future of cybersecurity in Andalusia lies in consolidating an ecosystem that combines the institutional strength of the Andalusian Digital Agency, the technical excellence of our professionals, and private-sector innovation.”

Jorge Paradela thanked Atos for its commitment to Andalusia, describing it as “a step forward in consolidating the Andalusian region as a national and international benchmark in digital protection, innovation, and public-private collaboration, while strengthening our collective capabilities, fostering local talent, and multiplying opportunities for innovation.” He added that this path is guided by the Andalusian Cybersecurity Strategy.

The new Atos MSOC delivers advanced services in monitoring, analytics, incident response and technology infrastructure management. Already in service for several months and operating 24/7/365, the MSOC addresses the growing complexity of threats and technological challenges.

A strategic center serving leading clients

Atos’ MSOC is a strategic operations hub, delivering high-capacity, efficient Managed Detection and Response and SOC services, as part of Atos’ global SOC network, becoming its 18th facility worldwide. This opening is testament to Atos’ commitment to digital security, innovation, operational excellence and investment in Iberia.

A new cybersecurity environment

As part of its ongoing evolution strategy, the MSOC is developing a new cybersecurity ecosystem designed to enhance prediction, detection and response capabilities against advanced threats.

As part of this evolution, the Seville center will leverage:

• Atos-curated and generated threat intelligence delivered through the Atos Threat Intelligence Sharing Platform;
• Centrally managed and tuned detections, threat hunting and automation playbooks;  
• As well as an AI-powered Virtual SOC Analyst.

 

According to Arancha Jiménez, VP of Cybersecurity at Atos Iberia, “The integration of the latest Atos innovations of which autonomous AI agents into SOC operations represents a significant step forward. At the Seville center, this technology enhances analytical efficiency and strengthens our real-time response capabilities to cyberthreats.”

She added, “This center marks a decisive step in our commitment to innovation and continuous improvement for our clients — enabling faster, more effective anticipation and response to incidents, and helping them prioritize resources through secure, reliable, and adaptive solutions.”

This approach allows Atos to strengthen client protection, cybersecurity being key to business trust and continuity.

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Note to editors – Atos Group’s cybersecurity products and services

As a global cybersecurity leader with more than 6,500 experts and 2,500 cybersecurity patents, Atos Group helps organizations navigate the evolving threat landscape with end-to-end, AI-powered security—enabling their pursuit of digital sovereignty and trust.

Under its Eviden brand, the Group offers a sovereign portfolio of cybersecurity products built on three complementary areas of expertise: data encryption, identity and access management, and digital identity.  Developed and manufactured in Europe, these products comply with the highest European certification standards to safeguard sensitive data, secure digital access and protect the identities across users, systems, and connected devices.

Cybersecurity services, delivered under the Atos brand, offer an integrated blend of strategic consulting, solution integration and continuous managed security services – spanning the entire security lifecycle. With a global network of 18 security operations centers (SOCs) processing more than 31 billion security events per day and serving over 2,000 trusted customers, Atos delivers a proactive, globally informed approach to securing operations. Its teams operate with deep industry expertise across all sectors, ensuring robust data protection, regulatory compliance, and business continuity worldwide.

Download the PDF document

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About Atos Group

Atos Group is a global leader in digital transformation with c. 67,000 employees and annual revenue of c. €10 billion, operating in 61 countries under two brands — Atos for services and Eviden for products. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high performance computing, Atos Group is committed to a secure and decarbonized future and provides tailored AI-powered, end-to-end solutions for all industries. Atos Group is the brand under which Atos SE (Societas Europaea) operates. Atos SE is listed on Euronext Paris.

The purpose of Atos Group is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

 

Press contacts

 

Spain: Christian Suell | christian.suell@atos.net | +34652969482

 

Global PR team: Isabelle Grangé | isabelle.grange@atos.net | +33 (0)6 64 56 74 88

Europe ranks as second largest eCrime target globally amid intensifying “Big Four” nation-state activity

AUSTIN, Texas and Fal.Con Europe 2025, Barcelona – November 3, 2025 – CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) today released the 2025 European Threat Landscape Report, revealing that European organizations accounted for nearly 22% of global ransomware and extortion victims — second only to North America. Ransomware operations are moving faster than ever, with CrowdStrike observing adversary groups like SCATTERED SPIDER increasing ransomware deployment speed by 48%, with the average attack now taking just 24 hours.

Adversaries operating in and targeting Europe benefited from underground marketplaces commoditizing services like Malware-as-a-Service, initial access brokerage, and phishing toolkits. In parallel, state-sponsored adversaries from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran expanded regional targeting across industries, reflecting the growing convergence of eCrime and geopolitical threats.

European Threat Landscape Report Highlights:

Based on frontline intelligence from CrowdStrike Counter Adversary Operations, which tracks more than 265 named adversaries, the report reveals:

• Ransomware Attacks Reach Historic Highs: Since January 1, 2024, more than 2,100 victims across Europe were named on extortion leak sites. The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain were the most targeted nations, with 92% of cases involving file encryption and data theft. Fueling Big Game Hunting operations, 260 initial access brokers advertised to over 1,400 European organizations.
• Russia and North Korea Escalate Threats: Russia-nexus actors continued to target Ukraine conducting credential phishing, intelligence collection, and destructive operations targeting government, military, energy, telecom, and utilities. DPRK-nexus actors expanded targeting of European defense, diplomatic, and financial institutions, combining espionage with cryptocurrency theft to advance strategic interests.
• Underground Ecosystems Evolve: English- and Russian-language forums — including BreachForums, a successor to RaidForums whose administrators were linked to actors in France and the U.K., remain central to Europe’s eCrime ecosystem, enabling the exchange of stolen data, malware, and criminal services. Platforms like Telegram, Tox, and Jabber facilitated collaboration, recruitment, and monetization among threat actors.
• Physical Crime Goes Digital: Violence-as-a-Service emerged as a growing threat across Europe, with threat actors using Telegram-based networks to coordinate physical attacks, kidnappings, and extortion tied to cryptocurrency theft. Groups connected to “The Com” ecosystem and hybrid adversaries like RENAISSANCE SPIDER are bridging cyber and physical operations, offering payments for sabotage, arson, and targeted violence.
• China Concentrates its Modus Operandi: Chinese state-sponsored adversaries targeted industries in 11 countries, exploiting cloud infrastructure and software supply chains to steal intellectual property. Persistent campaigns focused on healthcare and biotechnology, with VIXEN PANDA emerging as the most prolific threat to European government and defense entities.
• Iranian Operations Expand to Europe: IRGC-linked actors ramped up phishing, hack-and-leak, and DDoS campaigns against the U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands. HAYWIRE KITTEN claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack against a Dutch news outlet, while multiple Iran-nexus actors masqueraded as hacktivists to obscure state-sponsored espionage efforts.
  
   

“The cyber battlefield in Europe is more crowded and complex than ever,” said Adam Meyers, head of Counter Adversary Operations at CrowdStrike. “We’re seeing a dangerous convergence of criminal innovation and geopolitical ambition, with ransomware crews using enterprise-grade tools and state-backed actors exploiting global crises to disrupt, persist, and conduct espionage. In this high-stakes environment, intelligence-led defense powered by AI and guided by human expertise is the only combination designed to stop cyber threats.”

Download the full 2025 European Threat Landscape Report to gain valuable insights and mitigation strategies to stay ahead of cyber adversaries in Europe’s increasingly complex threat landscape.

About CrowdStrike

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Powered by the CrowdStrike Security Cloud and world-class AI, the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform leverages real-time indicators of attack, threat intelligence, evolving adversary tradecraft and enriched telemetry from across the enterprise to deliver hyper-accurate detections, automated protection and remediation, elite threat hunting and prioritized observability of vulnerabilities.

Purpose-built in the cloud with a single lightweight-agent architecture, the Falcon platform delivers rapid and scalable deployment, superior protection and performance, reduced complexity and immediate time-to-value.

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