Why Are Affirm, Upstart, and SoFi Plunging on Monday?

The stock market was having yet another bad day on Monday, with all three major market indexes well in the red, and the S&P 500 down by nearly 2% at 11 a.m. ET. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) leader Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) was down by 11%, lending technology company Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ: UPST) had fallen by nearly 14%, and banking disruptor SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) had plunged by 12% for the day. The recent market decline has hit speculative growth companies especially hard, as investors have general fears about inflation and rising rates as we go forward in 2022.