New York, Jan 21, 2026, 18:37 EST — Trading after-hours.
Shares of Mastercard Inc dropped roughly 0.8% on Wednesday and saw little movement after hours, following renewed White House scrutiny of the credit-card sector. The stock last changed hands at $527.57.
The recent surge has left payments stocks on edge, despite the fact that Mastercard doesn’t control credit-card interest rates—that’s up to the banks. Still, investors are lumping it all together, with headline risk driving the volatility.
Visa shares slipped roughly 0.2% late Wednesday. At the same time, American Express climbed around 2.1%, highlighting the market’s ongoing debate over who benefits if Washington moves ahead.
Trump said credit-card companies have been reaching out to him, and he’s urged them to “give people a break.” He also reiterated his demand that Congress impose a one-year cap on credit-card interest rates at 10%. He didn’t specify which companies or executives contacted him. (Reuters)
At Davos, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon slammed the proposal as an “economic disaster,” warning it would “remove credit from 80% of Americans” and have ripple effects far beyond the banking sector. Speaking separately, Trump said he’s urging Congress to cap rates at 10% for a year. (Reuters)
Bank shares took a hit a day earlier as investors sought clarity on whether a rate cap could be imposed without new legislation. “For now, it’s an overhang,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, speaking in Davos, emphasized affordability but warned that “capping rates would not be good for the U.S. economy,” Reuters reported. (Reuters)
Separately, Mastercard finds itself caught up in a rapid development in Brazil after the central bank ordered the liquidation of Will Financeira SA, linked to the struggling Banco Master. Mastercard confirmed it has suspended Will Bank cards from its network, citing missed settlement schedules—the deadlines for transaction payments within the system. (Reuters)
Mastercard is betting big on what it dubs “agentic commerce,” where AI agents handle shopping and payments for consumers. “Agentic commerce will only scale at the speed of trust,” said Sherri Haymond, Mastercard’s executive vice president of global digital commercialization, in an interview with Axios. The company also revealed it’s collaborating more closely with Google and Microsoft on checkout standards. (Axios)
On Wednesday, Mastercard revealed a partnership with Egypt’s credit bureau iscore to explore creating a new scoring model aimed at digital lending. This move is part of Mastercard’s broader push to expand its services and analytics beyond payments. “This collaboration with iscore represents a pivotal milestone in accelerating Egypt’s financial inclusion agenda,” said Selin Bahadirli, executive vice president at Mastercard. (Mastercard)
Traders face the risk that the rate-cap effort might stall and never become law, leaving the stock to swing wildly on political news while fundamentals remain steady. On the other hand, a policy shock could spook risk appetite ahead of earnings, turning payments stocks into a proxy battle over U.S. consumer policy.
Mastercard is set to release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings on Jan. 29, followed by a conference call at 9 a.m. ET. Investors will be focused on updates regarding spending patterns, cross-border transaction demand, and potential impacts from political pressure on card fees that might affect volumes and revenue. (Mastercard)
