NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 17:12 ET — Market closed
- American Express (AXP) shares last closed down about 0.9% at $369.95 in the final session of 2025.
- U.S. stock markets are shut for New Year’s Day, with investors resetting positions for early-January data and earnings.
- Traders are watching January macro releases and AmEx’s Jan. 30 earnings call for the next stock catalyst.
American Express shares ended the year’s final session down about 0.9% at $369.95, as U.S. markets shut on Thursday for the New Year’s Day holiday.
The move matters because the year-end pullback leaves AXP entering 2026 with positioning thin and catalysts clustered in January, including key economic data and the company’s next results. The holiday break can amplify price swings when trading resumes.
American Express is watched as a read-through on higher-income consumer spending and travel demand, while rate expectations shape the outlook for credit costs and loan growth across card issuers. Investors will be looking for signs that delinquencies remain contained as 2026 begins.
Wall Street’s major indexes ended lower on Wednesday in the final trading session of 2025, Reuters reported, a backdrop that pressured several large financial names.
In the prior session, losses in American Express and Goldman Sachs weighed on the Dow in holiday-thin trading, Reuters reported.
Payments peers also softened. Visa fell about 0.8% and Mastercard slipped about 1.1% based on the latest available pricing data.
“It’s perfectly fine in any bull market to have moments of cost,” said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity, pointing to profit-taking opportunities when liquidity is low. Reuters
American Express traded between $369.85 and $374.00 in the last session, data showed. Over the past two sessions, it has ranged roughly from $369.87 to $375.43—levels short-term traders often treat as near-term support and resistance.
Macro events are also lining up quickly. The U.S. Employment Situation report for December 2025 is scheduled for Jan. 9, while the December CPI inflation report is due Jan. 13, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Federal Reserve’s next rate-setting meeting runs Jan. 27-28, according to the central bank’s calendar—an anchor date for markets that can move Treasury yields and, by extension, rate-sensitive financial stocks.
Before the next session on Friday, investors will watch whether AXP steadies around the $370 area or revisits the week’s lows after the year-end dip.
Income-focused holders also have a near-term calendar item. American Express said its board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, payable Feb. 10 to shareholders of record on Jan. 2—a cutoff date that determines which holders are eligible for the payout.
The bigger company-specific catalyst is earnings. American Express has scheduled its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings conference call for Jan. 30 at 8:30 a.m. ET, the company said.
On that call, traders will focus on management’s read on holiday travel and entertainment spending, plus credit metrics such as delinquencies and charge-offs—industry terms for late payments and loans written off as uncollectible. Any update on expense growth and capital returns will also be in focus.
