New York, Jan 10, 2026, 07:10 (EST) — Market closed
- PayPal shares fell 1.05% on Friday, closing at $57.66
- Microsoft said PayPal is among partners enabling in-chat “Copilot Checkout” for U.S. users
- Focus turns to U.S. inflation data next week and PayPal’s Feb. 3 earnings call
PayPal shares slipped on Friday, even as Microsoft rolled out a “Copilot Checkout” feature that lets shoppers buy items inside its Copilot chatbot with payments handled by partners including PayPal. PayPal stock closed down 1.05% at $57.66. 1
The timing matters because PayPal is trying to prove it can still add payment volume without leaning on heavy discounts, and AI-led shopping is quickly turning into a new front door for online spending. If chat-based buying catches on, payments firms want to be the default button.
Investors also have little patience. PayPal shares are down about 30.6% over the past 52 weeks and sit well below their 50-day moving average of $62.41, a level many traders treat as a rough line for short-term momentum. 2
PayPal said it will handle parts of the checkout flow for Copilot, including showing merchant inventory and offering branded checkout and guest checkout, starting on Copilot.com. “We are enabling seamless, reliable transactions,” Michelle Gill, PayPal’s GM of Small Business and Financial Services, said in a statement. 3
Stripe, another payments partner, said it is working with Microsoft to help bring more merchants onto the new shopping experience. “We are collaborating with Stripe to provide the reliable … infrastructure,” Nayna Sheth, Microsoft’s head of product for agentic payments, said in a Stripe statement. 4
PayPal also announced a separate partnership with Paychex that will let employees of Paychex customers set up PayPal Direct Deposit through Paychex Flex Perks, with access to paychecks up to two days early. PayPal’s Scott Young said the tie-up aims to widen access to PayPal’s consumer financial tools, while Paychex’s Cory Mau pointed to financial stress on workers. 5
On Friday, PayPal underperformed the broader market: the S&P 500 tracker SPY rose about 0.64% and the tech-heavy QQQ gained about 1.02%.
But the new partnerships come with a familiar caveat. “Agentic commerce” — a shorthand for AI assistants that can surface products and help complete purchases — is early, crowded, and could take time to show up in PayPal’s transaction numbers, while fraud controls and merchant adoption will be watched closely.
Next up for traders is U.S. CPI data for December, due Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET, and the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting. For PayPal, the near-term marker is its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call on Feb. 3 at 8:00 a.m. ET, when investors will look for any early read on conversion rates, merchant uptake and 2026 outlook. 6
