Shares of Sezzle and Vital Farms Rise on S&P SmallCap 600 Inclusion

What Happened?

Shares of buy-now-pay-later service Sezzle (NASDAQCM:SEZL) jumped 6.4% in the afternoon session after positive reports for the "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) industry pointed to a strong holiday shopping season. This optimism stemmed from an Adobe Analytics forecast that projected spending using BNPL services would reach $20.2 billion during the holidays, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. "Buy Now, Pay Later" plans allow consumers to make purchases and pay for them over time. The payment method continued to gain popularity, especially among younger shoppers, signaling a healthy and expanding market for companies operating in the sector.

The shares closed the day at $64.46, up 7.6% from previous close.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

Sezzle’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 76 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 12 days ago when the stock gained 3.7% on the news that investors grew more optimistic about a potential Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December. The positive sentiment was fueled by comments from New York Fed President John Williams, a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, who stated the central bank could cut rates "in the near term" without jeopardizing its inflation targets. Following his remarks, market expectations for a rate cut in December shifted significantly. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a December rate reduction surged from a 37% chance earlier in the day to 70%. While lower rates can compress bank profit margins, investors often view them as a catalyst for broader economic activity, potentially boosting loan demand and reducing the risk of defaults.

Sezzle is up 41.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $64.38 per share, it is still trading 64.7% below its 52-week high of $182.16 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Sezzle’s shares at the IPO in August 2023 would now be looking at an investment worth $4,764.