Mastercard's dim forecast clouds profit beat on travel demand

Mastercard Inc (US.MA) on Thursday pushed back against worries of a slowdown in consumer spending after a weaker-than-expected forecast for revenue growth for the last three months of the year overshadowed an upbeat quarter for the U.S. card firm. Shares slipped 1% after the company said it expects revenue to rise in "low double digits" at the lower end of its forecast range, while analysts were expecting a near 15% increase.

Cross-border volumes, a measure of spending on cards beyond the country of its issue, were up 44%. That helped drive up gross dollar volumes, or the dollar value of all transactions processed on Mastercard's platform, by 11%.