Affirm, PayPal, Block stocks drop as oil price spike sparks recession fears
Payment stocks, including "Buy Now, Pay Later" names and credit card networks and issuers, are dropping in midday trading New York time, as the jump in oil prices increases the chances of recession.
That means consumers would cut back on purchases and increases the likelihood that they'll fall behind on paying their credit card bills and their BNPL payments. Earlier, Oppenheimer analyst Dominick Gabriele downgraded Alliance Data Systems (NYSE:ADS) to Perform from Outperform on the prospect that its net charge-offs will revert to 2019 levels.
To be sure, the price of crude oil has eased off its almost $140/barrel level in Monday trading, but still remains elevated at ~$118 in recent action.
Over the weekend, Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) both said they'll suspend operations in Russia and Bloomberg reported that American Express (NYSE:AXP) will halt its business in Russia and Belarus. 
Visa (V) stock is falling 4.6%, Mastercard (MA) -3.6%, American Express (AXP) -3.9%.
BNPL names Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM)
dips 2.7%, PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)
-2.8%, Block (NYSE:SQ)
-5.9%.
Among other credit card names: Capital One Financial (COF
-5.7%), Discover Financial (DFS
-6.8%), Synchrony Financial (SYF
-6.0%). Money center banks with big credit card business are also suffering: JPMorgan Chase (JPM
-3.1%), Bank of America (BAC
-5.4%), and Wells Fargo (WFC
-5.1%).
Over the past year, the growth stocks PayPal (PYPL) and Affirm (AFRM) were down, especially over the past two months as seen in the chart below.
Previously (March 6), Payment stock 'winners' come down to earth and other 2021 insights: Bernstein