** Shares of credit card firms plunge in early trading as investors weigh payment firm Block's XYZ.N eye-dropping chopping of nearly half its workforce in AI overhaul

** American Express AXP.N down 6.5%, Synchrony Financial SYF.N falls 5.7%, Capital One Financial COF.N slides 6.3%

** "The market is selling anything remotely credit‑sensitive this morning. Specialists are more focused on AXP given the cleaner read‑through to potential white‑collar unemployment", says Truist managing director Brian Finneran

** Markets have been worried that AI-driven disruption could result in mass layoffs and send shockwaves through financial systems

** Earlier this week, an imagined dystopia of mass unemployment fuelled by artificial intelligence, highlighted in Citrini Research's now viral report, unsettled global markets

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))