Mastercard profit beats Wall Street estimates on healthy spending trends

Mastercard beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, as the payments processor benefited from resilient consumer spending during the holiday shopping season.

 

The report capped a robust year for the company as hopes of a “soft landing” for the economy and bets of interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve encouraged big-ticket purchases and more travel.

 

Last week, Visa reported a…