Affirm surges 20% as fintech rallies on tariff pause, but risk remains

The fintech sector is rallying Wednesday following the Trump administration's announcement of a 90-day pause on planned tariffs. Affirm was up 20%, Toast and Block rose 13% and PayPal increased 10%. The 90-day pause doesn't eliminate the threat of tariffs — it just delays it. Investors are still pricing in risk, including inflation, discretionary pullbacks, hardware import costs and credit exposure. Legacy payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard , both up 6%, continue to benefit from inflation and their structural ties to nominal GDP. These companies take a percentage of every transaction. That makes rising prices a tailwind. "If prices are moving up for certain goods and you're paying with a credit card, it's actually good for the credit card companies," said Dan Dolev, a fintech analyst at Mizuho. Their pricing structure has historically made them resilient during inflationary periods, including recessions. The situation is less rosy for the new wave of consumer lending fin ... Read full article.