What happened

There have been a lot of down weeks for Marqeta (MQ -3.51%) this year, but this week was not one of them. The fintech climbed 11.7% for the week, from $6.50 per share at the market close last Friday to $7.26 per share at the market close on Thursday, Oct. 20. It remains down about 59% year to date. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were both up about 2.2% over that same time frame, while the Nasdaq was up 3.2%.

So what

There was nothing specific to Marqeta -- a company providing the digital infrastructure that allows customers to issue their own payment cards -- that drove its stock price higher this week. Rather, it was a variety of external factors.

The entire market jumped on Monday, when British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt effectively scrapped now-former British Prime Minister Liz Truss's proposed tax cuts, sending the pound higher. Later in the week, Truss resigned, and the market spiked again.

Marqeta also may have gotten a boost when Block -- its largest customer -- launched a new product for its Square merchants that lets retailers check out customers and conduct other services from the retail floor or curbside. It is designed to serve more customers and boost sales just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Finally, Marqeta caught some tailwinds from some better-than-expected bank earnings. Bank of America, Bank of New York, and Goldman Sachs all posted earnings that beat estimates this week. That improved investor sentiment as bank earnings are seen as a marker for the state of the economy and showed it was not as bad as many anticipated.

Now what

Wedbush analyst Moshe Katri stated that on Monday, Oct. 24, Marqeta is slated to speak in the "Announcement" track at the Money2020 conference, reported The Fly. Katri also cited that a Block executive in charge of business strategy and partnerships will be in attendance. Block's contract is due for renewal in 2024. The presentation may have nothing to do with that, but it might be worth tracking to see what news, if any, comes out of it.

Also on the near horizon is Marqeta's quarterly earnings report, which comes out on Nov. 9. Marqeta has been able to boost revenue, but watch to see whether the macroeconomic environment has had a greater impact.

Also, in the last quarterly report, founder and CEO Jason Gardner announced that he was stepping down to make way for someone to take the company to the next level. It will be interesting to see whether there are any updates on that front.