Perhaps the only good thing one could say about the share market today is that the falls aren't as bad as Monday or Tuesday. Yes, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is once again in the red so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by 0.16% at around 7,040 points. But that only makes the movements of the Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) share price look even worse by comparison.
Sezzle shares have been smashed today. The by now, pay later (BNPL) share is currently down by a painful 7.65% at 78 cents a share. What's worse for investors, Sezzle hit a new 52-week low of 77 cents a share at around midday today. Its current 52-week high of $9.83 is starting to feel absurdly far away.
So why are Sezzle shares enduring such a nasty selloff today?
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Why is the Sezzle share price tanking 8% today?
Well, it's not entirely clear. The company hasn't put out any news, announcements or developments today. Or indeed recently.
However, BNPL shares aren't exactly in favour right now. While not falling by as much as Sezzle, Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) shares are also down by around 3.4% today to $1 a share. That's just a whisker from the company's own 52-week low of 98 cents.
So the woes of Sezzle and the other ASX BNPL shares could be connected to what happened with a prominent US-based BNPL share overnight. As we covered this morning, Affirm Holdings plunged by 11.66% overnight (out time) to US$18.19 a share. That was after the company descended as low as US$16.56 a share during intra-day trading – a new 52-week low of its own. Affirm's woes seemed connected to another financial company, Upstart reporting a disappointing earnings result.
So it seems like the troubles of a few US-based financial and BNPL shares could be spilling over into the ASX today. This could be why we are seeing the Sezzle share price tank so dramatically. Sezzle is also a US-based company, which probably isn't helping its cause today, and could explain why it is suffering so much more than other ASX BNPL shares like Zip.
At the current Sezzle share price, this BNPL share has a market capitalisation of $170.58 million.
