NEW YORK, February 28, 2026, 12:46 ET — Market closed.
American Express Company (AXP) tumbled 7.88% Friday, shedding $26.42 to finish at $308.90. It’s a sharp move down from Thursday’s $335.32 close, with financial stocks as a group trading lower.
Wall Street’s weekend pause hasn’t spared American Express, which now sits squarely in the spotlight as stubborn inflation keeps investors guessing on rates and the outlook for consumer credit.
The coming week’s loaded calendar kicks off with the U.S. jobs report on March 6. A Reuters poll sees payrolls up by 60,000, but investors are still on edge, sorting out which names end up as “winners” or “victims” with AI’s influence growing. “There continues to be this … back and forth,” said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group, in comments to Reuters. Reuters
Friday saw the broader market still under pressure. The Dow slipped 1.05%, the S&P 500 was down 0.43%, and the Nasdaq lost 0.92%. Meanwhile, yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries eased to 3.96%.
Inflation hit harder at the producer level in January. The Producer Price Index, which tracks what businesses receive for goods and services and is often called “wholesale inflation,” climbed 0.5%. That’s above the 0.3% rise economists polled by Reuters had expected. Core PPI, stripping out food and energy, jumped 0.8%. Ben Ayers, Nationwide’s senior economist, flagged that higher producer margins could eventually flow through to consumers. He still thinks the Fed will “remain on pause” when it meets in March. The release also added to the view that rate cuts likely won’t happen before the Fed’s June 16-17 meeting. The government’s PCE report for January—a key inflation metric for the Fed—has been pushed back to March 13, according to Reuters. Reuters
Friday’s selloff wasn’t just a rates story. Financial shares took a hit after Reuters linked bank losses to the failure of UK mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions. Fintech name Block, though, rallied hard as it detailed plans to slash 4,000 jobs—AI at the center of the move. “To wrap up the month of February, we were reminded there are still some cracks out there,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group. Reuters
American Express finds itself highly sensitive to the macro backdrop, straddling both consumer spending and credit trends. Persistent higher rates have the potential to weigh on valuations, and even a slight dip in hiring can quickly pivot investor attention away from growth, putting credit risk front and center.
The downside isn’t difficult to imagine. Reuters highlights new tension across the $2 trillion private credit sector, with the UK bank failure stoking broader jitters over lending practices. The term “cockroaches” keeps popping up among traders—one credit mishap often isn’t the last. PitchBook’s Kyle Walters told Reuters he doesn’t see the end of private credit’s “golden era,” but pulling off equity-style returns could get trickier. Reuters
Friday’s bond action was choppy. Treasuries rallied even with the hotter PPI numbers, according to MarketWatch. Investors, spooked by what’s being called a “growth scare,” pushed prices up. Portfolio manager Vincent Ahn pointed out that anxiety over lasting growth hits—driven by AI disruption outside the tech sector—is showing up in bond pricing. MarketWatch
Next up: the February U.S. Employment Situation report drops at 8:30 a.m. ET on March 6 — a print that could shake up rate bets all over again, especially for high-beta plays such as American Express.
