New York, Feb 17, 2026, 13:51 EST — Regular session
- Mastercard shares rose about 1% in early afternoon trade, tracking gains across payments peers.
- The company and Cloudflare said they plan to build joint cyber-defense tools for small firms and critical infrastructure.
- Traders are watching Friday’s U.S. PCE inflation report for clues on rates and consumer demand.
Mastercard shares were up 0.9% at $523.31 on Tuesday, a mild gain in a choppy session that left investors leaning toward financial names.
Why this matters now: payments stocks tend to move with expectations for consumer spending and travel, and the market is trying to price the next turn in U.S. rates after a tech-led selloff. (Reuters)
Mastercard and Cloudflare said they had struck a strategic partnership to develop tools aimed at helping small businesses, governments and critical infrastructure defend web-facing assets against cyber threats. (Mastercard)
The plan links Cloudflare’s application-security products with attack-surface monitoring from Mastercard units Recorded Future and RiskRecon, the companies said. (Mastercard)
“For small businesses, critical infrastructure, and governments, a cyberattack is more than a technical hurdle. It is an existential threat,” Cloudflare Chief Strategy Officer Stephanie Cohen said. (Business Wire)
“With small businesses accounting for about half of the world’s GDP, closing the resilience gap is critical,” said Johan Gerber, Mastercard’s global head of Security Solutions. (Business Wire)
Mastercard’s move lagged gains in some peers. Visa rose 1.9% and American Express added 2.3%, as the financial sector outperformed broader U.S. stocks. (Reuters)
Rate expectations were also in play after Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said “several” rate cuts could be possible this year if inflation keeps moving toward the central bank’s 2% target. (Reuters)
But the cyber partnership is early-stage, and it is not yet clear how quickly it can translate into revenue or broader adoption, especially as security spending can be lumpy for smaller firms.
Investors are also keeping an eye on longer-run competitive and political pressure on big U.S. card networks. UK banks are preparing talks on developing a domestic alternative to Visa and Mastercard, The Times reported. (The Times)
Next up: Friday’s U.S. Personal Income and Outlays report, which includes the PCE price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — due on Feb. 20. (Bea)
