New York, Feb 23, 2026, 18:51 EST — After-hours
- Mastercard lost ground in after-hours action, caught up in the broad selloff that hit U.S. stocks.
- Visa and American Express slid alongside other payments stocks; PayPal, on the other hand, surged.
- Fresh U.S. data is on deck, and traders are eyeing the next round of tariff headlines as the session approaches.
Mastercard Incorporated NYSE:MA slid 5.7% to $496.03 in after-hours trading Monday, following a steep decline earlier in the session. Shares swung from $490.05 to $525.19 during the day.
Wall Street’s drop followed fresh tariff jitters and concerns over rapid advances in artificial intelligence shaking up business models. The Dow shed 1.66%, with the S&P 500 down 1.04% and the Nasdaq off 1.13%. “Sell first, assess later,” summed up U.S. Bank Wealth Management strategist Tom Hainlin. Reuters
Mastercard’s challenge right now isn’t so much about any shock specific to its own business; it’s more about sentiment. The card networks depend on stable consumer spending as well as cross-border flows, and when traders start seeing signs of slower transactions or fading risk appetite, they’re quick to hit the sell button.
Visa slipped 4.5% to $306.52 late, while American Express dropped 7.2% at $321.24. PayPal, though, jumped 5.8% to $44.05 as takeover chatter swirled around the name.
Mastercard is teaming up with Ericsson to bring together Ericsson’s fintech platform and Mastercard Move, its cross-border payments service, starting with markets in the Middle East and Africa. Mastercard says Move reaches 200 countries and territories. Ericsson, for its part, reports that its platform covers 22 countries and handles over 4 billion transactions monthly. Pratik Khowala, who leads Mastercard’s transfer-solutions division, called the integration a way to “open new pathways” for companies looking to expand payment options. TradingView
Mastercard investors are watching the competitive landscape closely. Usually, the major networks move together, unless a specific catalyst sets one company apart.
The real danger? Tariff swings start weighing on hiring and spending, regardless of how the regulations shift. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde put it bluntly—companies need “rules of the road” to feel comfortable investing. Over at EY-Parthenon, chief economist Gregory Daco called the pace of change “impossible to plan.” Reuters
Tuesday brings a fresh batch of U.S. consumer-confidence figures and housing data, with comments from Federal Reserve officials also on tap. After the bell, Trump delivers his State of the Union address.
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