NEW YORK, Feb 24, 2026, 05:26 ET — Before the bell
- American Express shares finished the session at $321.24, down 7.2%.
- Payments and consumer-credit stocks felt the jolt from a “scare trade” triggered by fears over AI disruption.
- Traders are watching for fresh U.S. data and any hints from the Federal Reserve on its policy direction.
American Express is grabbing attention ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. open, coming off a steep one-day drop that put the Dow name near the bottom of the blue-chip pack. Shares ended at $321.24, sinking $24.88, or roughly 7.2%.
This shift wasn’t sparked by an American Express earnings report or regulatory news. Instead, investors pulled cash out of sectors linked to consumer activity and transaction counts, with jitters over trade policy and renewed AI worries spurring a risk-off tone.
It kicked off over the weekend with a Citrini Research post, sketching out how “agentic” AI could shake up the pipes of commerce and put card economics under real stress—including interchange, that 2–3% fee on every card swipe keeping issuers and rewards afloat. In its note, Citrini pointed to machine-to-machine transactions as an obvious threat: “the 2–3% card interchange rate became an obvious target.” The firm flagged American Express as especially exposed, citing risks from both softening white-collar spend and mounting fee pressure. Citrini Research
Rates tossed another variable into the mix. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated he’d support keeping rates unchanged at the March Fed meeting, provided February’s employment numbers back up January’s robust hiring. That puts the focus squarely on the March 6 jobs report for markets.
The drop didn’t stop with American Express. Visa slid 4.5% on Monday, and Capital One tumbled 8.84%, according to MarketWatch data, as payment and consumer-credit stocks absorbed broader selling—not just a shift in sentiment around AmEx.
Index mechanics came sharply into focus with the drop. IBM and American Express together shaved about 340 points off the Dow on Monday, according to MarketWatch data—a vivid reminder of how a price-weighted index can lurch when just a couple of expensive stocks take a hit.
American Express has lately relied on affluent cardholders to drive spending, and back in late January the company forecast 2026 profit and revenue mostly ahead of Wall Street targets—even though a slight profit miss for the quarter dragged on shares at the time.
But bulls face a straightforward risk here. If a narrative-based selloff spills over and hits valuations for consumer lenders and payments networks, or if fresh data puts recession jitters back on the table, the story could quickly shift to fundamentals.
