NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 14:36 ET — Regular session
- PayPal shares fell about 0.5% in afternoon trading, slightly underperforming the broader market.
- Investors digested better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims data in holiday-thin trading.
- Focus shifts to early-January economic reports and PayPal’s next quarterly update.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL.O) shares were down 0.5% at $58.83 on Wednesday afternoon, tracking a modest dip in U.S. equities as investors positioned for year-end.
The move matters because payments stocks tend to be sensitive to shifts in the economic outlook. Transaction volumes are closely tied to consumer spending, and valuations can swing with interest-rate expectations.
Wednesday’s session also came with lighter liquidity ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday, making routine flows look bigger in price action. 1
U.S. labor-market data provided the main macro headline of the day. Initial jobless claims — a weekly count of new filings for unemployment benefits — fell to 199,000 for the week ended Dec. 27, below forecasts for 220,000, a Reuters report said. 2
“Profit-taking opportunities when liquidity was low,” helped explain late-year trading, said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity. 1
Broader U.S. benchmarks were slightly lower, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) down 0.3% and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) down 0.3%.
Other payments names also drifted, with Visa down 0.3% and Mastercard off 0.6%, while buy-now-pay-later lender Affirm fell about 0.9%.
In the absence of a fresh PayPal-specific catalyst, the stock has largely traded with the tape and the payments group into the final session of the year. 1
PayPal traded between $58.38 and $59.21 on the day after opening at $59.01, according to market data.
U.S. markets are closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day, leaving traders to look to early-January data for the next directional cues. 1
The next major U.S. macro test is the monthly employment report for December, scheduled for Jan. 9, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ release calendar. 3
On the company calendar, Nasdaq lists PayPal’s next earnings announcement as expected on Feb. 3, though the timing is not confirmed by the company. Investors will be watching for signs of steadier growth and any updates on product momentum in 2026. 4
