MA · Earnings call · 2026Q3T · Full report

Market Demand Trends

Mastercard Inc · 2026-10-29 · Importance 43 · Surprise 32

Management said consumers continued to spend, businesses continued to invest, and commerce continued to expand despite economic and geopolitical uncertainty. In Q3, switched volume and transaction metrics were generally in line with Q2 and remained strong, while spend remained strong in the first three weeks of October. Mastercard reported 7% worldwide gross dollar volume growth, including 6% growth in the U.S. and 8% outside the U.S.; cross-border volume grew 11%.

Key facts

• Mastercard management said Q3 consumer and commercial spend was healthy and remained so into Q4.
• Mastercard affluent spend is growing two times faster than overall credit spend.
• Mastercard's Q3 2026 worldwide gross dollar volume increased 7% year over year on a local-currency basis.
• Mastercard's switched transactions grew 9% year over year in Q3 2026.
• Contactless payments represented 81% of Mastercard in-person switched purchase transactions in Q3, up five percentage points year over year.
• Mastercard had 3.8 billion Mastercard- and Maestro-branded cards issued globally.