New York, February 14, 2026, 17:31 EST — Markets have wrapped up for the day.
- Schwab ended Friday down 1.4% at $93.72, trailing a nearly unchanged S&P 500.
- The broker posted $27.8 billion in “core” net new assets for January. Transactional sweep cash, though, slipped down to $433.3 billion.
- Markets will be closed Monday for Washington’s Birthday. Investors turn next to the Fed minutes on Feb. 18, with GDP and personal income figures due Feb. 20.
Charles Schwab (SCHW) finished Friday’s session off 1.4% at $93.72. This, despite the brokerage firm posting a strong kickoff to the year for customer inflows and trading volume. Wall Street’s shifting rate-cut bets drove the stock down heading into the long holiday break. (Investing.com data)
The monthly activity report carries weight—it’s among the rare regular glimpses investors get at Schwab’s client flows and cash balances outside of earnings. With rates bouncing around, updates like this can make a noticeable impact when they drop.
Schwab’s business model leaves it especially exposed to rate shifts. The company profits off the gap between returns on customer cash and what it pays them, plus earnings from loans secured by client portfolios. So, whenever Treasury yields or “sweep” cash rates move, those changes hit the stock directly.
Schwab’s January numbers showed “core” net new assets came in at $27.8 billion, filtering out major one-offs and certain CD flows. Total client assets posted an 18% jump year-over-year, reaching $12.15 trillion. New brokerage account openings for the month registered a 10% increase, bringing the total to 476,000. Transactional sweep cash dropped by $20.4 billion, landing at $433.3 billion—a move Schwab attributed to normal January trends. (Schwab monthly activity release)
Schwab lagged behind, with the S&P 500 inching up just 0.05% while the Nasdaq dipped 0.22% Friday. After the inflation numbers landed, CME’s FedWatch tool showed traders boosting the implied probability of a June rate cut to roughly 52%. (Reuters market report)
January’s CPI ticked up 0.2%, putting the annual rise at 2.4%—softer figures than economists had penciled in, according to a Reuters poll. Phil Orlando at Federated Hermes called the inflation read “better than expected.” Still, Josh Jamner of ClearBridge pointed to “price pressures percolating beneath the surface,” suggesting potential bumps ahead for the rate outlook. (Reuters CPI report)
Lower yields are a mixed bag for Schwab. They might buoy markets and nudge investors toward risk, but there’s a downside—those same yields squeeze the firm’s interest margin on client cash. The focus now is on January’s dip in sweep cash, as investors look for signs of whether it’s a blip or something more persistent.
Friday was also the record date for Schwab’s quarterly dividend, set for payment on Feb. 27, after the firm bumped up its payout to 32 cents per share. Shares went ex-dividend that same day—a technical move that sometimes weighs on the stock price. (Schwab dividend release)
Still, January’s update revealed a hefty drop in sweep cash—a critical earnings lever for Schwab. Should that cash pile keep shrinking, or if rocky markets put a lid on trading and new asset flows, the stock could struggle to claw back ground.
U.S. stock markets take a break for Washington’s Birthday on Monday, reopening Tuesday. For rate-sensitive stocks like Schwab, eyes are on the Fed’s January minutes due Feb. 18 and the revised dates for advance GDP and personal income data—now set for Feb. 20. (NYSE holiday calendar) (Federal Reserve February calendar) (BEA release schedule update)
